Despite suffering a wrist injury in a crash in Saturday’s Sprint, India’s F2 racer, Jehan Daruvala came within a few seconds of concluding his Formula 2 season with a points-scoring return in Sunday’s feature race at the season-ending event in Abu Dhabi.
After making contact with Enzo Fittipaldi during the opening lap of the shorter Saturday race, the 24-year-old slammed his car into the barriers. The Prema racer was brought to the hospital but was later released and allowed to compete on Sunday.
Though. Jehan had sustained a tendon injury in the collision and had his wrist wrapped to help with the agony when he lined up for the main event.
Because Formula 2 cars lack power steering, a driver’s arms and hands must work very hard.
Even with an injured hand, Jehan battled through the pack, running as high as third after a long opening stint.
He had pulled out enough of a gap to come out of the pits comfortably within the top ten but a slow stop that cost him as many as five seconds cost him a points finish.
After the conclusion, Jehan got the 13th position just over two seconds outside the points.
Jehan said, “We were hoping for more after our win and double podium in Monza but unfortunately this wasn’t our weekend. Motor racing is full of ups and downs and while this season hasn’t gone as we wanted, there are still highs that we can celebrate. I would like to thank Prema, Red Bull, my family and all my sponsors for their hard work and support this year. I’m looking forward to having a bit of a break and recharging my batteries over the winter.”
(Inputs from IANS)