Jehan is CIK FIA Asia-Pacific Champion; Best ever Performance by an Indian

Indians continued their impressive performance at the CIK FIA World Championship event in the other categories on Day 2. Jehan Daruvala of Rayo Racing, for the first time in the entire event was relegated to 2nd in the morning’s KF3 warm up behind Japanese driver – Marino Sat. However Jehan, a member of the Sahara Force India Academy, came back strongly to win Heat 3.

Jehan once again showed his superiority in the 13 lap Pre-Final with a lights to flag victory. So dominant was his performance that he had the largest winning margin of any race the entire weekend. He won by 5.8 seconds from Singapore driver – Noorzilan Amin & Japanese – Ishida Joe.

In the meantime Ameya Bafna, the reigning National Champion also from Rayo Racing made a brilliant start in the Macau Cup Rotax Final race & was soon comfortable leading the race ahead of Tsai Yang.

However after 4 laps Ameya’s tyres degraded rapidly & he started struggling for pace. In the meantime Busato from Hong Kong moved into 2nd and a lap later grabbed the lead from Ameya. The 2 battled it out & were joined by Yang & Macau driver Cheong Chi.

These 4 drivers kept the crowd on their feet as they exchanged places throughout the race.  Unfortunately Ameya had further tyre problems & he slipped down to finish the race in a disappointing 4th position. A mere 2 seconds separated the top 4. Meanwhile, in the CIK FIA Asia Pacific Championship, Jehan started the final on pole, but dropped down to third after the 2nd corner. Entering the last corner, Jehan moved into 2nd behind Marino Sato.

After lap 1 the gap between the Sahara Force India Academy member – Jehan & the Japanese was 0.8 seconds. Jehan took 7 laps to bring down the gap to 0.2 seconds. Thereafter the Indian & Japanese duo put on a spectacular display for the packed grand stand. They traded fastest lap upon fastest lap between each other & neither driver made the slightest mistake. Rayo Racing’s Jehan seemed like he had no answer for the Japanese driver’s new found pace.

Eventually on lap 17 – Jehan made his move into the 2nd corner. Sato came right back & grabbed the lead on the 4th corner. Once again Jehan made a move on lap 19 out of the 21 lap final.

This time he protected his line well into the 4th corner & Sato had nowhere to go. It was the first time in the race that Jehan crossed the start / finish line in the lead. Immediately on the next lap, Sato made a lunge down the inside of corner 4. Both Jehan & Sato slid of the track after making minor contact.

On the very last lap, Sato covered his line well into the 4th corner, but came out slow. Jehan seized the opportunity & made a brilliant move down the inside of Sato into the 5th corner. With just a few corners remaining, Sato had no answer & Jehan Daruvala took the chequered flag to become the CIK FIA Asia Pacific KF3 Champion of 2012. His achievement is the biggest by an Indian in Karting till date.

“This is my biggest victory so far. It feels good to have proved myself at one of the biggest events in World Karting. Everyone at the Sahara Force India Academy has been instrumental in my performance. I would also like to thank Team Rayo Racing for their effort this weekend.” Said Jehan after the exciting 21 lap Final.

Rayomand Banajee later also commented “Jehan has always had the pace; he has had a bit of bad luck lately, but his last victory in UK & now the CIK FIA Asia Pacific title show that he has a long way to go! We were unlucky with Ameya Bafna who put up a fantastic performance this weekend in the Macau Cup. His tyres degraded too quickly in the final. However 4th out of 28 is not a bad result. He too will do India proud in the future for sure.”