After a mixed start to the weekend, DAMS managed to recover with Juan Manuel Correa by scoring a point in Saturday’s Sprint Race. The 24-year-old driver moved up 11 places to finish in the final point scoring position.
Despite coming P2 in Free Practice, Jak Crawford missed the window to maximise the soft tyres in Qualifying, crossing the line to qualify at the back of the grid in P22. Teammate Juan Manuel Correa qualified three places ahead in P19, struggling in Friday’s session.
He said: “We have a great race car, but we need to do better on a Friday to make sure we can score the big points throughout the event.”
On Saturday, the drivers opted for different tyres ahead of the Sprint Race, with Correa starting on the hard tyre and Crawford on the softs. Jak finished in ninth, making up 13 places to narrowly miss out on points behind his teammate.
Jak Crawford said: “It was a strong Sprint Race for both of us on different strategies, showing that our race pace is good as I only narrowly missed out on the points. We’ve got one round to go until the summer break, so we’ll try and finish on a high.”
Team Owner Charles Pic said: “It was another event when we had an impressive race car, as shown by both drivers, especially in Saturday’s event, but we missed out on the big points due to qualifying. We’re pleased with the recovery in the Sprint Race, for both drivers to make up so many places, with JM securing the final point.
Contrasting to their promising Sprint Race, neither driver was able to score points in the Feature Race. Both cars showed strong pace but both drivers’ race was hindered when Correa stalled when the team double stacked during a Safety Car. Crawford once again finished narrowly behind Correa when they crossed the line in 16th and 17th place.
DAMS will head into next weekend in Spa, Belgium, hopeful for more points as they currently sit seventh in the Formula 2 Teams’ Championship.
Image: DAMS Lucas Oil
