DAMS Lucas Oil show strong race pace to score points in both races in Austria
DAMS Lucas Oil picked up points in both races across the weekend with Jak Crawford, to move up to fifth in the Teams’ Championship, as the 2024 FIA Formula 2 season hit the halfway mark in Austria.
Having qualified 14th, Crawford put on an overtaking masterclass in the Sprint Race, carefully managing his tyres to brilliantly gain eight places to secure sixth, whilst teammate Juan Manuel Correa moved up three positions to finish 16th.
On Sunday, the Aston Martin Driver Development Programme member produced a valiant recovery drive, having started in the pit lane due to stalling ahead of the formation lap. Crawford went long on the alternate strategy, making several late overtakes to be classified in 10th, picking up the final point. On the other side of the garage, Correa would initially cross the line in tenth, before a five-second penalty meant he would end up 14th, following a good drive from 19th on the grid.
Jak Crawford: “I felt great in all the sessions this weekend, apart from qualifying, and was delighted with the performance across both races to pick up further points. It was frustrating to stall before the Feature Race, but the pace was excellent again, coming from the pit lane to get into the top-10. I’m happy with the speed we’ve been showing, and I’ll be hoping to continue this and eliminate mistakes at Silverstone.”
Qualifying: 14th | Sprint Race: 6th (+3 points) | Feature Race: 10th (+1 point)
Juan Manuel Correa: “The Feature Race was my strongest event of the weekend, and I’m frustrated to have picked up the penalty for going across the white line on pit entry, which cost us the points finish. It was a tough start to the weekend, but once again we showed that we’ve got solid race pace, which leaves us feeling confident moving forward.”
Qualifying: 19th | Sprint Race: 16th | Feature Race: 14th
Charles Pic, Team Owner: “I’m happy to secure points in both races and to move up to P5 in the Teams’ Championship. On Saturday, Jak produced an excellent drive after a frustrating qualifying for the whole team. In the Feature Race, it was brilliant to see Jak bounce back from the stall on the formation lap and his slow stop to earn P10, while JM would’ve been in points scoring contention without the penalty. It shows us once again that we’ve got a very good race car, and we continue our record of scoring points at every weekend so far this season. We now head to Silverstone hopeful of a strong result, and we’ll be working to fix the qualifying issues. We also want to send our best wishes to the mechanic who injured his knee during Jak’s pit stop, and we hope to have him back with us on site soon.”
Image: Dutch Photo Agency