Indian racer Jehan Daruvala closes in on second place in Formula 2 title race

By IANS

BAKU: Indian racer Jehan Daruvala followed up his Sprint race podium with another top-five finish in Sunday’s Feature race at Azerbaijan’s Baku street track.

Jehan, who came within half a second of a fourth Formula 2 win in Saturday’s Sprint race, had started eighth and used a combination of strategy and race craft to fight his way up to fourth in the safety car disrupted race.

He jumped up to seventh at the start, gained places through the pitstop phase with an early stop.

He also pulled off a spectacular slipstreaming pass down the long start-finish straight on fellow Red Bull-backed racer Liam Lawson.

Jehan was on course to finish third and leave Baku with a double podium when championship leader Felipe Drugovich, running ahead of him, hit the wall.

The Brazilian was heading into the pits to retire but stayed out when the final safety car, under which the race ended, was deployed.

Nevertheless, Jehan’s points haul over the Baku weekend allows him to close the gap to second-placed Theo Pourchaire to just 10 points in the overall standings.

“I think we can be quite satisfied with the weekend. We took yet another podium and scored important points in the Feature race that allowed us to close the gap to our closest rival. Next up is Silverstone, a track I really like, and I’m really looking forward to building on this result there,” Jehan said.