(Motorsports news) Jehan Daruvala made a blistering start in the F2 pre season test on day 1 in Sakhir as he topped overall timing charts. The Prema Racing driver, who joins the defending champions Prema  from Carlin this season, set a time of 1m42.074s to go quickest, half a second quicker than second placed Calan Williams of Trident. 

Daruvala is in the Red Bull junior program and had finished seventh in the 2021 drivers’ standings, with two wins and five podiums.His teammate The 2021 FIA Formula 3 champion Dennis Hauger, who moved up with Prema from 3 also showed good pace in practice, as he finished in third with a time of 1m42.602s, followed by Carlin’s Liam Lawson in fourth. His team-mate Logan Sargeant finished fifth. Marcus Armstrong finished seventh in the timing charts ahead of his third season in F2. Felipe Drugovich was the first driver to go below the 1m44s in the afternoon session, before setting the fastest time early on with a time of 1m43.831s, after that Lawson went fastest. But with only five minutes remaining, the timings went below 1m43s, with Daruvala, Williams and Hauger all setting very quick laps.

For the Indian this is a massive season as he has a genuine shot at the F2 World Championship which should only enhance his chance of getting a F1 seat next year. The early signs are that he’s all set to challenge for the title, having signed with Prema, Daruvala joins one of the most successful teams in F2 so he has no room for excuses. The Italian constructor has delivered three previous champions, including Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher and 2021 champion Oscar Piastri.

Daruvala on joining Prema said “We have a strong relationship. I was there in 2019, that year I challenged for the title in F3 and even though I wasn’t there for the last two or three years, I still felt at home as soon as I came back. The test was really positive, both short runs and long runs were quite good. But again, testing is testing, we’ll only know how it is when we start racing. But yeah, I still see a few familiar faces from my F3 days. So I know quite a few of them and I feel at home.”

With all the right ingredients seemingly in place, Daruvala doesn’t want to settle for anything less than the title. “I definitely believe that I am good enough to win the championship. Now it’s all about cutting out the mistakes that I have made,” he says.

Daruvala on his ultimate goal said, “Obviously, my only goal is Formula 1. But I’m not going to stop racing or quit racing if I don’t go to F1. So obviously there are other parts which I will look at.”

Also read: Jehan Daruvala joins Prema racing as he tops the pre testing in Abu Dhabi

The top ten from F2 Practice were:

1    Jehan Daruvala    Prema    1m42.074s    
2    Calan Williams    Trident    1m42.590s        
3    Dennis Hauger    Prema    1m42.602s        
4    Liam Lawson       Carlin    1m43.478s        
5    Logan Sargeant    Carlin    1m43.483s        
6    Felipe Drugovich    MP Motorsport  1m43.590s        
7    Marcus Armstrong    Hitech GP    1m43.877s        
8    Enzo Fittipaldi        Charouz Racing System  1m43.946s    
9    Juri Vips                Hitech GP    1m43.946s    
10  Roy Nissany       DAMS    1m44.003s