Competing in Formula 3 Asian Championship, Jehan Daruvala and Kush Munshi have made India proud with some great result in the Round 1 held at the Dubai Autodrome. Debuting with the team Mumbai Falcons, Jehan finished in the seventh position in the overall driver’s standing with 27 points.
Despite the technical issues in both the cars during the pre-season testing, Jehan qualified for Race 1 at fourth while his teammate Kush Maini managed eight. Jehan had a good start and quickly moved up a place to third and he held on to it to claim the podium. But Kush was unfortunate as he was hit by another car and had to pit, which put him at the back of the entire field. He still managed to clock the second-fastest lap time in this race which allowed him to start second for Race 2.
But that wasn’t the end of trouble for Kush. A brake issue saw him barely move fifty meters down the track, at the start of the race. Meanwhile, Jehan too lost a few positions in the opening lap but recovered well later, to finish seventh.
In Race 3, Kush got a fantastic start. But four cars entered the first corner side by side, resulting in a contact forcing Kush to pit once again to repair the damage and once again re-join at the back of the pack. His teammate’s car too momentarily went airborne and spun him around. The young Indian managed to get his car started and re-joined in the eighteenth.
From there on, Jehan drove brilliantly for the rest of the race. On a circuit with few overtaking opportunities, the 22-year-old was practically overtaking a car a lap. From eighteenth, Jehan steadily climbed up the order and was the quickest driver on the track. He eventually finished in the seventh position. Jehan’s also achieved the feat of the fastest lap of the race, which was almost three-tenths of a second faster than any other car.
French racer Pierre Louis Chovet won the race ahead of Sweden’s Ferrari Academy racer, Dino Beganovic. Williams F1 Junior, Roy Nissany was third. The first two races were won by China’s Guanyu Zhou. After Round 1 race weekend, the championship now moves to Yas Marina Formula 1 Circuit, for two back-to-back events, next weekend.
