‘‘The team was telling me to box [come into the pits],'' Daruvala said after taking the race which finished behind the safety car. Cars had stopped in dangerous places after spinning off the track.
‘‘I asked if they were sure and they said ‘yes'. It was definitely the right call to change to wet tyres when we did.''
The whole field had started on slick tyres despite the damp conditions which became more treacherous as drizzle continued to fall.
After starting 17th on the grid and racing in the middle of the field, Daruvala's team elected to bring him into the pits to change tyres in the expectation there would be further incidents on the increasingly greasy track.
It was the right call as the safety car was called out a second and third time.
On the third restart, Daruvala had only one other car on wet tyres in front of him, Pedro Piquet, who became involved in an incident on the track and spun off.
The first eight, led by the morning race third placegetter Lando Norris (England), were still on slick tyres and became sitting ducks in the conditions.
Daruvala, with more grip in the conditions, was able to pass Norris and Artem Markelov (Russia) to take the lead just two laps before another incident brought the safety car out again and the race was stopped.
‘‘I've got to thank the team a lot,'' Daruvala said.
‘‘It's my first victory in cars.''
Like Saturday's winner Ferdinand Habsburg, who started 16th and finished second yesterday afternoon after an early stop for wet tyres, Daruvala's previous win came in karts in 2014.
‘‘Those restarts were tricky,'' Daruvala.
‘‘I couldn't see much in all the spray.''
He goes to the second round at Teretonga, Invercargill, next weekend, fifth on the points table, which is led by Norris, from Habsburg and Markelov.
