By Our Special Correspondent
India’s Jehan Daruvala took his fourth podium from five rounds of the F2 Championship this season with a second-place finish this weekend at the iconic Monaco street track.
The 23-year-old chalked up the landmark result, his 11th Formula 2 podium, in Saturday’s Sprint race.
The Prema racing driver finished third on the grid. He got a good escape, but had to take action to escape the stalled pole-sitter Jake Hughes, which allowed teammate Hugger to take the lead.
Daruwala finished second and chased, but could not find his way past the twisted streets of the principality, which was known to be difficult to overtake, with the exception of Hughes finishing in the order in which they started.
However, Daruwala took home his first Monaco podium; The Red Bull-backed racer is heading to the sacred Royal Box, adorned by many motorsports throughout the long history of the Monaco race to receive his trophy.
Daruvala followed up his Sprint podium with a points-scoring finish in Sunday’s Feature race. He started 8th but was squeezed into the wall at the start.
He opted for a similar strategy to the one he used in Saudi Arabia, where he went from 14th to third, choosing to start on the softer tyre and stop early.
But an inaccurate safety car allowed the bank to make a 'free' pit stop for those who ran more in the field. It refuses drivers like Daruwala, who stop first and then close the gap to opponents who have to pit, denying them the opportunity to cross through stops.
Still, Daruvala once again showed his racing nous and made up ground with a perfectly-timed dive up the inside of Calan Williams into the Tabac corner. He finished eighth.
After the race, Daruwala said, “Standing on the pitch in Monaco is a dream come true for any driver. Winning the race is great but overcoming here is not so easy. I'm really happy with the speed we achieved over the weekend - we're just like everyone else out there. The feature race was very straightforward, but I was able to make a good move, it was fun! I'm been looking for some exciting racing on Baku streets for weeks now. "
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