Real Sociedad beat Celta to book Copa del Rey semifinal spot
Real Sociedad became the first team to qualify for the semifinals of the Copa del Rey with a 2-1 win away to Celta Vigo, who rested a host of key players and paid the price.
India’s Jehan Daruvala raced to his second podium finish of the season with a fighting drive from 14th to third in the Formula 2 Feature race at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
The 23-year-old from Mumbai began his weekend on the back foot after a mechanical issue hampered him in qualifying. But the Red Bull-backed racer used a mix of race craft, strategy and tyre management on Sunday to claw his way up the order to third.
“It’s very satisfying,” said Jehan. “Coming into this weekend I knew Prema had a really good car. I was really down after qualifying. But once we discovered that our lack of pace was down to a mechanical issue, it made me believe again. It was good damage limitation and honestly third was probably the maximum we could have had.”
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Jehan, who went from 13th to seventh in Saturday’s sprint race, earned his podium, his ninth in F2, with a mature drive. He passed two cars off the line at the start, pulled off a bold pass around the outside of three cars into Turn 1 at one stage, and swept past fellow Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa on the start-finish straight.
He timed his one and only pit-stop to perfection and used all his experience to keep his pace up, hunting down and passing Marcus Armstrong while managing tyre wear over a long second stint on the harder tyre.
Jehan leaves the Saudi Arabian round with a strong haul of points. He now heads to historic Imola in Italy for the next round of the season which will take place from April 22-24.
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