ABU DHABI: Indian racer Jehan Daruvala ended round 3 of the Formula 3 Asian Championship with an emphatic win from pole position here on Sunday, pushing himself up to the second spot in the points table.
Each racer is allowed to use two sets of tyres per weekend. Jehan had kept aside his fresh set of tyres for the last race of the weekend.
Guanyu Zhou from China was expected to be on a similar strategy, starting second. The lights went off and Jehan, driving for Mumbai Falcons, had an excellent start from the pole to lead into the first corner.
Zhou followed Jehan into second, while the two Frenchmen behind them were side by side. Isack Hadjar, starting from fourth, managed to overtake championship leader Pierre-Louis Chovet and climb to third.
Zhou soon mounted a challenge on Jehan and came right beside the Indian. But, Jehan held his nerve and prevented the Chinese racer from getting ahead. Jehan soon settled into a good rhythm and reeled out a series of quick laps to open up a very small gap with Zhou.
A brief safety car period neutralised Jehan’s lead. Once the safety car pulled into the pits, Jehan made an excellent restart and immediately pulled away from Zhou, who also pulled away from Hadjar.
Jehan posted a couple of fastest laps and cemented his lead to win ahead of Zhou, while Hadjar was third.
Mumbai Falcons picked up more points thanks to Kush Maini having another good race. Kush had a good start and was able to gain two positions. He had a thrilling battle with Lorenzo Fluxa, who tried overtaking Kush for most of the race.
Kush drove a highly intelligent, defensive race to keep Fluxa behind and finish eighth.
Jehan had fallen to third in the championship after race 2 in the morning. His victory takes him to second in the standings with two rounds and six races remaining in the championship.