Formula 2: Jehan Daruvala finishes second in Austrian GP Feature race-Sports News , Firstpost

File photo of Jehan Daruvala. Photo credit: James Gasperotti

India’s Formula 2 racer Jehan Daruvala finished second in the 40-lap Feature race of Austrian Grand Prix at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg on Sunday. The victory helped the 23-year-old Indian to grab 18 valuable points in the battle for the F2 driver’s title as Daruvala increased his points tally to  98 points at the end of round eight.

This was Daruvala’s best finish in the Feature race this season with his earlier best being a third-place finish during Saudi Arabia GP in March.

Trident’s Richard Verschoor, starting P7, won the race and grabbed 27 points (2 points for taking pole in Qualifying) while Daruvala’s Prema Racing teammate Dennis Hauger also picked eight points by finishing sixth.

Daruvala, who started the race at P11 on the grid after a bad qualifying, — and Verschoor alike — made the most of his slick tyre strategy while the top seven on the grid were on wet tyres on a damp track after rain earlier.

Daruvala also was involved in an incident after the Indian driver and Hitech GP’s Marcus Armstrong made contact on lap 2, spinning the New Zealander and ending his race.

Verschoor and Daruvala enjoyed the advantage of the dry tyres amid chaos in lap six as they surged ahead of those on wets struggling to come down the cliff.

Daruvala did lose his second spot to Spanish driver Robert Merhi, who overtook the driver on the penultimate lap. However, Merhi, who made a return to F2 after four years,  was dropped to fifth post the race after being handed a track-limit penalty following an investigation.

With six more rounds to go, Daruvala, driving for the Prema Racing, now trails the championship leader Felipe Drugovich by 56 points as the Brazilian finished outside the points range at 13th. Drugovich also suffered a problem starting on wets and dropped to third.

In the 28-lap Sprint Race on Saturday, Daruvala finished 11th, gaining no place on the grid after struggling to find pace in the Qualifying on Friday.

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