Formula 2: Jehan Daruvala loses second spot after controversial 20-second time penalty in Austrian GP-Sports News , Firstpost

Jehan Daruvala stands at the podium of the Austrian GP before being handed a time penalty in Spielberg on Sunday. Image credit: James Gasperotti

Indian racer Jehan Daruvala put in a stirring drive from 11th to second in Sunday’s Formula 2 feature race of Austrian GP but was dropped to 12th spot post-race by the race stewards with a controversial 20-second time penalty in Spielberg.

Jehan had finished a provisional second after an inspired strategy call to start the race on slick tyres on a damp track and searing pace from the Red Bull-backed racer in the tricky conditions saw him make rapid progress up the field.

But a 20-second time penalty, handed out after stewards deemed the Prema Racing team had attempted to dry the track surface at Jehan’s grid spot, negated his brilliant run.

The penalty was all the more disappointing as Jehan was briefly in with a chance of inheriting the race win after provisional winner Richard Verschoor was disqualified for a fuel irregularity.

India’s Formula 2 racer Jehan Daruvala finished second in the 40-lap Feature race of Austrian Grand Prix at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg on Sunday. The victory helped the 23-year-old Indian to grab 18 valuable points in the battle for the F2 driver’s title as Daruvala increased his points tally to  98 points at the end of round eight.

This was Daruvala’s best finish in the Feature race this season with his earlier best being a third-place finish during Saudi Arabia GP in March.

“I’m absolutely gutted. All season luck has been against us and just when I thought things were finally going our way we get hit with a penalty,” said Jehan after the race. “We did everything right today. I was expecting a tough race from 11th on the grid and, while it was tricky, we read the conditions perfectly today.

“The team made the right strategy call on the tyres and I was able to maximise it with my pace in the wet. It’s difficult to find the positives after having a result we fought hard for taken away from us in this fashion. We could have taken big points off our rivals today but I can still take encouragement from my pace today. We now have a weekend off before the next run of back-to-back races and it’s now full focus on Paul Ricard and Budapest. We just need to keep pushing and I’m sure our day will come.”

With six more rounds to go, Daruvala, driving for the Prema Racing, now trails the championship leader Felipe Drugovich by 74 points as the Brazilian finished outside the points range at 11th.

Earlier in the race, Trident’s Verschoor, starting P7, while Daruvala’s Prema Racing teammate Dennis Hauger also picked eight points by finishing sixth.

Daruvala, who started the race at P11 on the grid after a bad qualifying, — and Verschoor alike — made the most of his slick tyre strategy while the top seven on the grid were on wet tyres on a damp track after rain earlier.

Daruvala also was involved in an incident after the Indian driver and Hitech GP’s Marcus Armstrong made contact on lap 2, spinning the New Zealander and ending his race.

Verschoor and Daruvala enjoyed the advantage of the dry tyres amid chaos in lap six as they surged ahead of those on wets struggling to come down the cliff.

Daruvala did lose his second spot to Spanish driver Robert Merhi, who overtook the driver on the penultimate lap. However, Merhi, who made a return to F2 after four years,  was dropped to fifth post the race after being handed a track-limit penalty following an investigation.

In the 28-lap Sprint Race on Saturday, Daruvala finished 11th, gaining no place on the grid after struggling to find pace in the Qualifying on Friday.

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