Daring display by Drugovich; scores a treble
Seventeen-year-old Brazilian Felipe Drugovich raced away to victory in the third round of the MRF Challenge 2017 to pick up a healthy 71-point lead at the top.
Published : Dec 15, 2017 19:01 IST
Felipe Drugovich brought the 5.5km long Yas Marina circuit to life with a commanding triple sweet victory in the third and penultimate round of the MRF Challenge 2017 here on Friday.
Only the other day, he was a bit anxious about the set up of his car. But with things falling in place overnight, the young Brazilian dominated like never before to score a treble in only his second year into this MRF series. And, the 17-year-old turned emotional when his country's anthem kept playing during the victory ceremony. "I am beginning to enjoy driving in this circuit. It has brought me all the joy and luck," he said.
Late Thursday night, Drugovich, the pole sitter, began his quest for title winning the opener amidst some drama. He picked up pace pretty quickly and was in total command for most part. But the arrival of safety car twice took some sheen out of the race. It would have been quite upsetting for any leader when in full flow but Drugovich never looked threatened and emerged a clear winner.
READ: Drugovich clinches pole under lights
"We did some very good lap times and I was the fastest right through. I got a good gap and so I was not worried about the guys behind. The safety cars out was frustrating but I was confident of pulling the gap," said Drugovich.
He said that he was also losing a bit on the straight line speed. But, the team sorted it out on time for this daredevil star to go ahead and demonstrate his great skills on this daunting circuit. And, he did not disappoint. He clinched the next two races in a similar fashion to further bolster his chances for the title and even went on to clock the fastest timing in all the three races. Drugovich has now a healthy 71 point lead and may score more from the five remaining races. Frenchman Julien Falchero finished second in two races and third in the other. Earlier, the drivers were given a ten-minute breather to get familarised driving under lights but they preferred to go directly into the first race.
| The results (top three only) Race 1: 1. Felipe Drugovich (Bra) 25:50.742; 2. Presley Martono (Idn) 25:53.085; 3. Julien Falchero (Fra) 25:53.606. Race 2: 1. Felipe Drugovich 25:52.221s; 2. Julien Falchero 25:54.098; 3. Alex Karkosik (Pol) 25:56.089. Race 3: 1. Felipe Drugovich 21:58.696; 2. Julien Falchero 22:12.174; 3. Rhinus Van Kalmthout (Nld) 22:13.195. |