Jehan Daruvala takes victory in Hungary 

- Leads Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Championship

Budapest, Hungary : The Indian National Anthem rang out over the Hungaroring F1 circuit for the first time in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Series,  as Jehan Daruvala of the Sahara Force India Academy, clinched his maiden victory in the series. Besides winning convincingly, the Indian Formula 1 prospect propelled himself to the top of the championship standings after 3 rounds.

Jehan started the weekend with third and sixth (on old tyres) in Practice, while Qualifying for Race 1 did not turn out well for him. Both Jehan’s fastest laps were deleted for exceeding track limits and Jehan therefore had to start Race 1 in eighth on the grid. Race 1 started and the car immediately in front of Jehan stalled and Jehan lost a few positions while taking evasive action. The worst was yet to come as on the last lap while fighting with another racer, the other car’s front wing clipped Jehan’s rear wheel and Jehan spun around. Jehan finished 13^th with no time to close in the gap, while Lando Norris of Great Britain won the race ahead of Russian racer Vasily Romanov and Ferdinand Habsburg of Austria.

Jehan, determined to have a much stronger Race 2, started from second on the grid. The Indian teenager had a good start and was soon right on the tail of pole sitter – Lando Norris. The duo started pulling away from the rest of the field and soon, the race went in favour of Jehan when Lando went off track, into the barriers on lap 4. A brief safety car period ensued and Jehan made a good start after the Safety Car pulled in. He was able to stay ahead of the pack behind and slowly started building up a lead once again on the second place racer.

Jehan’s consistent and quick laps upfront ensured he continued to pull away, while also clocking the fastest lap of the race. He ensured he made no mistakes and went on to earn his maiden Formula Renault victory with a comfortable lead of 1.4 seconds, ahead of Russian racer – Robert Shwartzman. He in turn, was half a second ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg.

“After having everything seem to go against me in Race 1, I am really happy with the way Race 2 turned out. It was crucial for me to protect the lead at the restart and after that I was able to consistently lap quicker than everyone behind me. It was a special moment to hear our National Anthem being played across the circuit and I would like to thank the entire team at Josef Kaufmann Racing, Pieter my coach, Jon and Craig of PAP, and Don my mind coach. Thank you also to Sahara Force India for all their support.” said an elated Jehan.

Jehan’s victory ensured he now leads the championship points tally by a margin of 5 points. Jehan will now race in Monza on 2^nd and 3^rd July as part of the Formula Renault EuroCup Series.