Two victories and three fastest race laps from three races
LE CASTELLET, France (16 May 2021) – Jak Crawford made his first full weekend in the Euroformula Open Championship one to remember, taking two victories and a second place finish in Round 2 of the season at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Missing the first two races of the season due to age restrictions, the Texan Formula One prospect made his series’ debut two weeks ago with a seventh-place finish on his 16th-birthday at Portimao, Portugal. This weekend, Crawford was fastest in practice, captured the pole in qualifying, set all three fastest race laps and won first two races before taking a close second in the Sunday finale.
“I’d say it was a pretty good weekend,” said Crawford, who unofficially moved up to second in the standings. “I had the most points on the weekend, and we clearly established ourselves as the fastest, with the fastest lap in all three races plus two wins and the pole position. I’m a little sad I didn’t win all three, but overall I’m happy with the weekend. Our pace was good, and thanks to Motopark and everyone for getting me a fast car.”
Saturday’s opening race saw Crawford lead lights out to checkered flag in the No. 52 Motopark Dallara 320 Volkswagen. Adding drama to the race was a short safety car period and a restart with six laps remaining, but the Red Bull Junior Team driver held his own and won by 1.859 seconds. He also set the race’s fast lap on the final circuit.
“Overall, it was a cruising race – it was not the most difficult,” Crawford said. “I had to keep my focus and hit all my marks. It was not easy, especially when you’re dealing with a safety car at the end, because you don’t know what can happen. But it was a good race, and I think I drove really well.”
Starting sixth with the inverted grid for Sunday morning’s race two, Crawford avoided an incident in Turn 1 and emerged in third position. From there, he needed only two laps to claim second, and then set his lights on the leader. The pair ran side-by-side – separated by mere inches – down the front straight with two laps remaining. Crawford nosed ahead in Turn 1 and took the lead entering Turn 2, pulling away to win by 2.877-seconds.
“Once I caught up to the leader, he was defending quite aggressively,” Crawford said. “I managed to get past and take the lead with two laps to go. I also managed to set the fastest race lap, which put me on the pole for race three.”
Starting on the pole for the final race, Crawford fell to second at lights-out but battled to regain the position in a torrid three-car battle. He finally managed to get by for the lead in Turn 12 on lap nine. The second-place car spun and bumped Crawford, who nearly got sideways, opening the door for Motopark teammate Cameron Das, who was running third. Crawford made repeating challenges over the following laps before getting wide and nearly sideways with two laps to go, opening the door for Das to win by 0.998-seconds.
“I had a good race, but I thought my start was bad,” Crawford said. “Then I was racing with someone who I thought was quite reckless in defending. I got hit when I took the lead and got dirt on my tires, and I wasn’t able to defend. After that, I was just chasing and chasing, but I made a mistake in the final two laps that cost me a chance at a win.”
Following this weekend’s races, Crawford has nearly a month until his next race outing,
Round 3 of the Euroformula Open Championship is slated for Belgium’s Circuit Spa-Francorchamps on June 18-20. Only one week later, he returns to Paul Ricard for the second weekend of the FIA Formula 3 Championship on June 24-26.
