Daruvala scores double podium in Toyota Racing Series round three

Jehan Daruvala finished the second third round of the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand with a second, fourth and third place finish, respectively at Waikato on Saturday and Sunday.

The healthy points haul, along with setting the fastest lap in the first race on Saturday, helped Daruvala improve two places to third place in the championship standings. He now trails M2 Competition teammate Lando Norris and Pedro Piquet by 55 and three points, respectively, with six races over two rounds remaining in the series that has been used by aspiring single seat racers as a means to stay active during the European winter.

Daruvala qualified second, 0.17 seconds behind pole sitter Norris and both had a good start as the lights went off. Norris was able to break away from Daruvala in the early stages as the Mumbai native, in turn, broke away from the rest of the field. In the middle of the race, both lapped consistently and the gap remained unchanged. Daruvala finished strong, however, and was able to close to within 1.5 seconds of Norris as the chequered flag fell.

The start order for race 2 was based on the top eight finishers in race 1 being reversed. Daruvala therefore started 7th and had one of his best starts so far. He almost advanced to fourth, but was pushed wide into the grass. This dropped him down the order to tenth. Amidst two safety car restarts, Jehan overtook 3 cars and was soon 7th. He then benefited from a few cars crashing out, and overtook another car to finish the race in fourth.

Qualifying for Race 3 was extremely close, as the top 3 were within 0.09 seconds. Piquet was on pole ahead of Norris and Daruvala. Norris was, however, demoted with a penalty and Jehan started second, but lost a place at the start. The race saw two periods of safety car and was eventually won by Piquet followed by New Zealand's James Munro. Daruvala came third to ensure his second visit to the podium.

The next round sees the series move to Taupo this weekend on February 6 to 7.