After scoring a pole position and a podium at the first race of the second round of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship at Monza and a podium in the opening race of the Hungaroring round, Sahara Force India Academy driver Jehan Daruvala has made the next step in his F3 career by winning the final of three races at the Norisring round today.
Eighteen-year-old Daruvala's win in the final race of the fifth round of the championship sees him become the first Indian racing driver since Narain Karthikeyan won the 2000 Korea Super Prix, to win a major Formula 3 event.
Daruvala had finished sixth and fourth - after starting ninth and fifth, respectively - in the earlier two rounds of the weekend at the 2.3km, eight-turn, Norisring street circuit that usually features very close laptimes in qualifying as well as close racing due to the very short lap where it takes around 48 seconds to finish a lap.
He started second for the final race before a fantastic start allowed him to jump the very experienced Maximilian Gunther of the front-running Prema Powerteam.
Daruvala was able to manage the gap to Gunther that stayed at around five tenths of a second throughout the race with the final gap at the end of the 39 lap race being just 0.438 seconds.
Lando Norris, Daruvala's highly rated Carlin Racing teammate, recovered from a poor start to finish 3.088 seconds behind in third place to follow a come-from-behind win in the second race of the weekend.
The 17-year-old Norris is, along with Red Bull Racing supported Pierre Gasly, the most talked about junior racing driver and has provided Daruvala an excellent benchmark with which to improve himself. Daruvala has aimed for more wins and podiums with the aim to at least finish at least in the top five in the championship standings by the end of the season that will conclude in October.
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