Daruvala hands PREMA Racing third-place finish in Jeddah Feature Race
PREMA Racing captured the team’s second podium finish of the season today at Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Lining up for the Feature Race of the FIA Formula 2 Championship weekend at the Saudi venue, Jehan Daruvala delivered a stellar recovery from P14 on the grid to P3 at the end. The 23-year-old Indian had a blistering start from the seventh row and quickly picked up positions. Starting on the soft tyres, Daruvala pitted at his earliest opportunity and went for an incredibly consistent second stint. To the positions gained on track, Daruvala added more spots when the late stoppers dived back to the pits. In the end, he sailed to take P3 with a solid run.
Lining up from P10, Hauger went for an aggressive strategy, starting with medium tyres and opting for a late stop. His pace on the harder compound was exceptional. The 18-year-old Norwegian eventually finished in P6 as the safety car he would have needed in the closing stages never materialized and all the 27-laps went on caution-free.
#1 DENNIS HAUGER
“Positive end to a hard weekend. We were on a different strategy than most, but did my race and ended P6, which is not too bad. I think we lost some time at the beginning of the first stint, but otherwise, it was not too bad. Nice to end on a decent pace before the Barcelona test and Imola, and my first experience on a street circuit was awesome.”
Qualifing: P11
Starting position Race 1: P1
Starting position Race 2: P10
Fastest Lap: 1’41″710
Race 1: P17
Race 2: P6
#2JEHAN DARUVALA
“I think it was a very good race overall, to be on the podium from P14 was the best we could do. After the issues in qualifying, to be seventh and third in the races was damage limitation. I think our strategy worked quite well. I wanted clean air as we knew that the car was really good in clean air, so we made the call to box early, and it paid off. We had a great pace after that, and in the end, it is what gave us the podium. Going from 14th to 3rd gives me a lot of confidence, now we need to start more at the front.”
Qualifing: P15
Starting position Race 1: P13
Starting position Race 2: P14
Fastest Lap: 1’42″181
Race 1: P9
Race 2: P3
Source | Photo: PREMA Racing