DAMS Lucas Oil took pole position and second place during Sunday’s Feature Race with Jak Crawford in Jeddah to ensure a strong points haul, as Kush Maini also managed a pair of top-10 finishes.

The Aston Martin F1 Reserve and Development Driver produced a stunning last-gasp lap on Friday evening to clinch pole in Saudi Arabia for Sunday’s Feature Race. After reversing the top-10 for the Sprint Race, the American quickly made his way into the points paying positions before contact with a competitor ended his race early.

Having qualified 12th, Maini showed solid pace as he battled through technical issues to move forward and ended up narrowly missing out on points in P10.

On Sunday, Crawford got the perfect start and built a comfortable lead before pitting on Lap 8. He re-gained the net race lead following the pit-stop phase with a comfortable move into Turn 1, then expertly drove the remainder of the race. Unfortunately, the 19-year-old was overtaken on the last lap by a driver on the alternate strategy, meaning he crossed the line in second to take his first podium of the campaign.

On the other side of the garage, the Alpine F1 Team Test and Reserve Driver opted to start on the Prime tyres and showed great speed in the latter part of the race to take 10th.

Formula 2 returns on May 16-18 at Imola for the first event of a triple-header which sees the championship also head to Monaco and Barcelona.

Jak Crawford: “It was a really encouraging weekend overall. Taking pole position and finishing second in the Feature Race shows the pace we have. Of course, it was frustrating not to finish the Sprint Race, but bouncing back on Sunday with a strong performance and our first podium of the season is a great result. I’m proud of the team and excited to keep building on this momentum heading into Imola.”

Qualifying: 1st (+2 points) | Sprint Race: DNF | Feature Race: 2nd (+18 points)

Kush Maini: “It was a positive end to a tough weekend as we took a point in the Feature Race. We had some technical issues throughout the event but managed to fix them for the final day which lead to an improved performance. I know that we’re getting stronger as the races go on so that gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.”

Qualifying: 12th | Sprint Race: 10th | Feature Race: 10th (+1 point)

Charles Pic, Team Owner: “It’s great to score a big haul of points with Jak’s Feature Race podium on Sunday after a difficult start to the season for the team. Jak had strong pace throughout the weekend and was unlucky not to take the win on Sunday after being overtaken on the last lap by an alternate strategy runner. On Kush’s side, he battled through technical issues in qualifying and the Sprint Race, showing good pace on Sunday once these problems were resolved to take a point. The team has worked hard to improve the pit-stops, and they were executed perfectly at this event. It’s a big step forward as we now look to continue this improvement going into a crucial double-header.”

Image: Dutch Photo Agency