Baku, June 11 : Indian racer Jehan Daruvala came within half a second of his first Formula 2 win of the season in the Azerbaijan round’s Sprint race on Saturday.
The Red Bull-backed Prema driver crossed the line just 0.380 seconds behind ART’s Frederik Vesti at the end of a safety car-disrupted race.
The 23-year-old started third and, having vaulted into the lead with a masterful display of race craft at the start, was on course for a dominant win around the unforgiving streets of Baku.
He had even kept the lead through the first of three safety car periods, which wiped out his 4-second advantage.But a slight lock up on cold brakes at the second safety car restart allowed Vesti to slip past just three laps from the finish.
Jehan said, “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed but I’m still happy with the race I did.I had a great start, had everything under control and felt I deserved the win.It’s a shame to miss out by such a narrow margin but we’ll take the positives from this and now focus on Sunday’s feature race.”
Saturday’s second-place finish was Jehan’s fifth from six rounds this season and 12th overall in Formula 2.It is also the fourth time this season that he has finished in the runner-up spot and keeps him third in the overall drivers’ standings.
Jehan, a three-time Formula 2 winner, will get another shot at scoring a strong result on Sunday when he lines up for the longer Feature race ahead of the Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix.
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