<p>India's Jehan Daruvala opened his bid for the Formula 2 title with a second-place finish in the Sprint race of the Championship's first round at the Sakhir International Circuit here.</p>.<p>The 23-year-old from Mumbai, who races for Prema Racing and is a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, had started fourth after qualifying seventh under the Championship's reverse grid rules.</p>.<p>Jehan's season-opening podium was founded on a good start. He was up to third straight away and, after fending off fellow Red Bull junior Liam Lawson in the Carlin, he set about in pursuit of second-placed Ralph Boschung.</p>.<p>The safety car was deployed on Lap 3 to clear the stranded Hitech of Marcus Armstrong.</p>.<p>It bunched up the field but Jehan, who took his first F2 win in Bahrain in 2020, held his ground, once again prevailing in a wheel-to-wheel battle with Lawson.</p>.<p>He caught and passed Boschung on Lap 16 just before the race was interrupted for the second time by a Virtual Safety Car.</p>.<p>Boschung retook second as the race resumed. But Jehan seized the place back on the 18th lap with a bold move around the outside of the Swiss racer into the right-handed Turn 4. He crossed the line less than two seconds behind Verschoor.</p>.<p>"We definitely have a lot of positives to take. Finishing second in the first race of the year is a good start. I think we had the pace to fight for the win. Unfortunately, I mistimed the Virtual Safety Car restart which lost us a lot of time and eventually cost us the win. But overall we have a really good car and I'm quite pleased with our start to the season," said Jehan.</p>.<p>Jehan now heads into Sunday's feature race, which he will start from seventh, where he qualified. He is hoping for another strong result to round off an encouraging season-opening weekend. This season is Jehan's third in Formula 2, the feeder-series that sits below F1 on the single-seater ladder.</p>.<p>He raced for Carlin in the last two seasons but has made the move to Prema Racing this year.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>
<p>India's Jehan Daruvala opened his bid for the Formula 2 title with a second-place finish in the Sprint race of the Championship's first round at the Sakhir International Circuit here.</p>.<p>The 23-year-old from Mumbai, who races for Prema Racing and is a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, had started fourth after qualifying seventh under the Championship's reverse grid rules.</p>.<p>Jehan's season-opening podium was founded on a good start. He was up to third straight away and, after fending off fellow Red Bull junior Liam Lawson in the Carlin, he set about in pursuit of second-placed Ralph Boschung.</p>.<p>The safety car was deployed on Lap 3 to clear the stranded Hitech of Marcus Armstrong.</p>.<p>It bunched up the field but Jehan, who took his first F2 win in Bahrain in 2020, held his ground, once again prevailing in a wheel-to-wheel battle with Lawson.</p>.<p>He caught and passed Boschung on Lap 16 just before the race was interrupted for the second time by a Virtual Safety Car.</p>.<p>Boschung retook second as the race resumed. But Jehan seized the place back on the 18th lap with a bold move around the outside of the Swiss racer into the right-handed Turn 4. He crossed the line less than two seconds behind Verschoor.</p>.<p>"We definitely have a lot of positives to take. Finishing second in the first race of the year is a good start. I think we had the pace to fight for the win. Unfortunately, I mistimed the Virtual Safety Car restart which lost us a lot of time and eventually cost us the win. But overall we have a really good car and I'm quite pleased with our start to the season," said Jehan.</p>.<p>Jehan now heads into Sunday's feature race, which he will start from seventh, where he qualified. He is hoping for another strong result to round off an encouraging season-opening weekend. This season is Jehan's third in Formula 2, the feeder-series that sits below F1 on the single-seater ladder.</p>.<p>He raced for Carlin in the last two seasons but has made the move to Prema Racing this year.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>