RedBull-backed Indian F2 racer Jehan Daruvala finishes second in France

Jehan
started
Saturday’s
(July
23)
Sprint
race
from
pole
position
and
after
a
lightning
start
led
into
the
first
corner.
He
was
comfortably
holding
his
own
at
the
front
when
an
incident
involving
three
cars
brought
out
the
safety
car.

Jehan
timed
the
restart
to
perfection,
allowing
him
to
open
up
a
small
gap
to
second-placed
Liam
Lawson.
But
the
latter’s
superior
straight-line
speed
allowed
him
to
close
in.

It
looked
like
it
would
only
be
a
matter
of
time
before
Lawson
used
his
car’s
superior
speed
down
the
straights
to
get
past
Jehan
and
sure
enough,
the
Kiwi
swept
around
the
outside
into
Turn
1.

Jehan
held
his
line
but
the
pair
touched
which
opened
up
a
tear
on
Jehan’s
front
tyre.
But
he,
fortunately,
didn’t
suffer
a
puncture.

A
few
laps
later
Marcus
Armstrong
attempted
to
pass
Jehan
for
second
at
the
same
corner
but
on
the
inside.
They
made
contact
but
Jehan
forced
wide
across
the
chicane
and
kept
his
position.

He
had
to
slow
down
significantly,
however,
to
give
up
any
advantage
he
may
have
gained,
which
allowed
Lawson
to
pull
clear
at
the
front.

Armstrong
was
handed
a
five-second
penalty
for
forcing
Jehan
off
the
track

On
Sunday,
Jehan
started
the
Feature
race
from
10th
on
the
grid.
But
he
fought
his
way
up
to
seventh
as
a
combination
of
strategy,
which
put
Jehan
in
the
lead
before
his
stops,
and
blistering
speed
after
his
late
switch
to
fresh
tyres,
saw
him
climb
up
the
order.

Jehan
said,
“It’s
good
to
be
back
on
the
podium
after
what
happened
in
Silverstone
and
Austria.
We
were
struggling
with
pace
down
the
straights
but
had
some
good
battles
to
finish
2nd.
We
would
have
finished
even
higher
in
the
Feature
race
with
our
strategy
to
run
a
long
first
stint
but
we
gambled
on
a
safety
car
and
stayed
out
a
bit
longer
than
ideal.
Other
than
that,
it
was
a
solid
weekend
for
us.
We
still
have
some
areas
to
work
on
and
I’m
confident
we’ll
come
back
stronger
next
weekend
in
Hungary.”

Jehan’s
second-place
finish
in
France
was
his
fifth
this
season.
The
23-year-old,
who
races
for
Italian
team
Prema,
was
robbed
of
a
potential
fourth
F2
victory
by
a
post-race
penalty
in
the
last
round
in
Austria.

The
Red
Bull-backed
racer,
who
earlier
this
week
completed
a
second
Formula
One
test
with
McLaren,
now
heads
to
Hungary,
the
last
round
of
a
busy
month
of
racing
before
the
annual
summer
break.

Source:
Media
Release