- Jehan Daruvala [Copyright: FIA European Formula 3 Championship]

European F3: Jehan Daruvala ekes out points results in tough Misano round

The two Indian drivers had a difficult run but managed to score points still.

Darshan Chokhani posted in Motorsport India & World

3y ago

391

Jehan Daruvala started Round 7 in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship at Misano with a 12th and seventh place finishes in the two practice sessions on Friday with Carlin teammate Ameya Vaidyanathan 22nd in both the sessions.

The Qualifying 1 on Friday for Race 1 saw Daruvala finish sixth in a close fight as Prema's Mick Schumacher led a 1-2-3-4 with Marcus Armstrong, Guanyu Zhou and Robert Shwartzman. Vaidyanathan qualifying 19th.

In Qualifying 2 on Saturday under heavy rain conditions, the Indian was seventh but got promoted to third after penalties to several drivers with Vaidyanathan in 22nd. Pole went to Motopark's Juri Vips from HitechGP's Enaam Ahmed with penalties to others.

Taking the second-best time, Prema's Armstrong took pole from teammate Aron and Vips with Daruvala in ninth and Vaidyanathan 22nd again in the order.

Race 1

It was a difficult outing for Daruvala in the first race on Saturday when the Indian lost couple of places to Vips and Aron in the opening lap of the 24-lap race. He was stuck behind them for long as HitechGP's Alex Palou started to trouble him.

The Spaniard eventually passed him on Lap 16 as Daruvala had to settle for ninth to score two points as Schumacher scored his third win of the season from Armstrong and Shwartzman in a Prema 1-2-3-4 with Zhou in fourth.

Vaidyanathan, on the other hand made up two places to finish 20th in the race after troubles for both HitechGP's Ben Hingeley and Ahmed. The Indian missed on rookie points to be 11th in the order.

Race 2

The second race on Sunday started under dry conditions but after a rain shower. Some teams opted for the wet tyres but it ended up being a wrong call as slicks was the right choice even though it was slippery on the track.

Vips led the way from Palou who leapfrogged not only Daruvala but also Ahmed in the process to be second at the start. Daruvala dropped to fourth but quickly got ahead of Ahmed while fending hard from Schumacher.

The fight went on for a couple of laps until Daruvala suffered a suspension failure into a right-hander, forcing him to retire from the race. Vaidyanathan started 19th but dropped back as he was one of the drivers on the wet tyres.

He went a lap down after his stop and finished 20th overall and 12th best rookie as Vips held off the challenge from Palou all-through the race to win while Schumacher claimed the final position on the podium.

Race 3

It was a stop/start run in the final race of the weekend with rain falling continuously at Misano. The race initially started behind the safety car but was red-flagged with the conditions not improving. It started again behind the safety car after nearly 15 minutes of wait.

The conditions then started to improve as the safety car was pulled in as Armstrong led the way from Aron and Vips at the front. Behind, Daruvala lost a place to Palou on re-start to be 10th in the order.

The Indian continued to run in 10th until the safety car bunched up the field again but upon re-start, Daruvala lost places to Shwartzman and Motopark's Fabio Scherer even though he was ninth from Ahmed.

He finished ninth eventually as Armstrong lost his lead to Aron at the front with the Kiwi dropping down the order and eventually retiring after a contact with Zhou. Aron took the win with Vips in second and Carlin's Ferdinand Habsburg third.

The Austrian had to fend off from championship leader Motopark's Dan Ticktum but managed well. Vaidyanathan started in 22nd and made his way up to finish 16th after clearing VAR's Keyvan Andres on the final lap. He scored a point in rookie class being 10th.

After seven rounds in the 2018 season, Ticktum leads with 222 points with Daruvala dropping to 10th with 117.5 to his name. Vaidyanathan sits 13th in the rookie list with 23 points as they now head to Nurburgring during September 8-9 for Round 8.