European F3: Indian Talent Jehan Daruvala Picks Up His Maiden Rookie Win

Jehan Daruvala's first time at the Pau street circuit turned out to be a challenging start in wet conditions in the two practice sessions on Friday, where he finished 17th and 14th respectively.

A protege of Force India showed better pace under dry conditions to be eighth in his Group A qualifying, led by Prema's Callum Ilott. However, his Group B teammate Lando Norris posted his best time less than Ilott.

Therefore, Daruvala's group had the higher alternative position, which led the Indian to be placed 15th for Race 1, with Ilott on pole ahead of Norris and Motopark's Joel Eriksson.

Daruvala was involved in an incident in the end stages of his Group B session in the second qualifying on Saturday. This meant he could manage only sixth in the order, despite setting his personal best in the first two sectors.

Race 1 saw Jehan Daruvala make a steady start to stay 15th at Pau under dry conditions, but the track still wet in some of the sections.

In Race 2, Daruvala pushed himself to get past his Carlin teammate and positioned himself in the top 10, finishing ninth and second-best rookie, a mere 0.638s behind teammate Ferdinand Habsburg.

At the Race 3, Daruvala made a significant move on Prema's Mick Schumacher after the safety car period to position himself into 15th position. He then slowly moved up to 11th place after retirements to Hitech's Jake Hughes, Mawson, Nikita Mazepin (Hitech) and Norris.

With Norris' retirement, the Jehan Daruvala was able to secure his first rookie win of the season, from Schumacher and Motopark's Marino Sato.

The rookie championship table saw Norris leading Schumacher with Daruvala in third on 140 points, 14 behind the German.

The European F3 Championship will head to Hungaroring for Round 4 during June 17-18, 2017.