Jehan Daruvala was quick throughout practice amongst a grid of 20 cars. The 18-year-old Indian dominated the first qualifying session and grabbed the pole position for Race 1 with a lap time of 1:17.424 seconds around the 3.33 km Ruapuna Park Circuit. Ferrari Academy racer - Marcus Armstrong was a close second behind Jehan, with a gap of just 0.158 seconds, while Austrian racer Ferdinand Habsburg finished third.
Jehan Daruvala at the starting grid
Other promising drivers from the world over included RedBull Academy Racer - Richard Verschoor, Pedro Piquet - Son of Former F1 World Champion, Nelson Piquet among many others.
Race 1 saw Jehan start from pole position and soon pulled away opening a comfortable gap of over one second to maintain his lead. However, a safety car period soon ensued and during the restart down the extremely long straight, Marcus who was right behind Jehan took advantage of the excellent slip-stream. Jehan could do nothing about the situation, as the car behind was able to build up a lot more speed and overtake easily. The positions remained the same then and the limited overtaking opportunities ensured that Marcus won the race less than a second ahead of Jehan. Richard Verschoor came in third, a further 1.1 second behind Jehan.
Jehan managed to break the circuit record with a lap time of 1:16.800 seconds.
While Race 2 starting positions are based on the reverse grid of Race 1 finish and saw Jehan start fifth, the qualifying session 2 had Jehan bag pole for Race 3. The driver also broke the circuit record with a lap time of 1:16.800 seconds, which was well under the earlier record of 1:17.062 seconds. Marcus continued to remain hot on Jehan's tail for most of the race, finishing just one thousandth of a second slower than him. Meanwhile, Briton racer Enaam Ahmed finished third, also within just one-tenth of a second of Jehan.
Jehan at the podium
Speaking on the win, Jehan said, "It has been an excellent start to the season. I was quick straightaway and I am happy with the double pole earlier today. There was nothing I could do at the restart due to the slip-stream that Marcus had from my car and I had to settle for second."
