India's Daruvala heads into Spanish F2 round hoping for victory

Mumbai: India's Jehan Daruvala will be hoping to convert a run of three successive podiums into a maiden win of the season, as he heads to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for this weekend's Spanish round of the Formula 2 championship.

The Red Bull-backed racer has scored a podium in each of this season's three rounds so far, the only driver of the current crop to do so.

That consistency has put the 23-year-old Prema Racing driver third in the overall drivers standings, just 16 points behind championship leader Theo Pourchaire.

But Jehan, already a three-time Formula 2 winner whose aim is to become the first Indian to win the Formula 2 title this season, will be looking to further cement his credentials as a championship contender with victory around the 4.6-km long track.

Jehan said, "We've had a strong start to our season and we go into this weekend with a lot of confidence, especially after the pace we showed in Saudi Arabia and Imola. My aim is obviously to be fighting at the front and I'm sure we have the pace to win.

But this is a track everyone knows well, given the amount of testing we do here, and we will have to get everything, from qualifying to our race strategy, absolutely perfect if we want to stand on the top step of the podium."

Located on the outskirts of Barcelona, the technical Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya track is a popular test venue with teams and drivers. Jehan and Prema enjoyed a productive outing at the in-season Formula 2 test session there last month.

The Indian racer has shown strong form at the track in the past, taking victory on his first visit to the venue at the season-opening Formula 3 round in 2019. The Spanish Formula 2 round will be held as a support event to the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix.