DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa both recovered from a frustrating qualifying to secure Feature Race points in Round 4 of the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship at Imola.

Aston Martin Driver Development Programme member Crawford suffered mechanical issues on a part the team has no control over during qualifying, only getting time for one flying lap at the end of the session. This meant the American would line up 21st for both races, with teammate Correa one place in front.

After avoiding several incidents during Saturday’s Sprint Race to clinch 14th and 15th, both drivers got a strong start in today’s Feature. Opting for split strategies, Crawford pitted on Lap 8, with a good job from the team helping him move up the order. Making impressive overtakes, he found himself in a strong position by the time Correa came in for his stop.

The driver of the #8 car drove strongly to the chequered flag after more great work from the pit crew, clinching eighth, one position behind Crawford in seventh, securing a combined 10 points for the squad.

Jak Crawford: “I’m happy with the performance today, we came back through the field really well to secure some solid points. It was frustrating to have the technical issue in qualifying, it meant I only got one lap at the end on heavy fuel. It was really tough to pass yesterday, but today we had a strong car and strategy, I was able to make a couple of great overtakes and work my way up to P7, which I think is a positive finish.”

Qualifying: 21st |  Sprint Race: 14th  |  Feature Race: 7th (+6 points)

Juan Manuel Correa: “I’m really pleased to score points in the Feature, especially given we started at the back on a track which is difficult to overtake on. We have work to do in qualifying, but in the races we have good speed. Yesterday was tough in the DRS train, but we knew we would be quick in clean air, so we opted for the alternate strategy on my side. It worked well and the team did a great job during the stop. Satisfied with P8 and looking forward to Monaco next weekend!”

Qualifying: 20th  |  Sprint Race: 15th  |  Feature Race: 8th (+6 points)

Charles Pic, Team Owner: “We’re happy with the way we recovered today in the Feature Race after a tough qualifying. We didn’t quite get the balance of the car right and Jak had a technical issue, which was not the fault of the team. The Sprint was difficult as both drivers were stuck in a DRS train, but today we performed well as a unit. We decided to split strategies to give us the best chance of points. The race pace was positive, Jak got a strong launch on the Supersoft tyres and JM put in good lap times while going long. The crew also did a great job in the pit stops, so we can be happy with P7 and P8 considering where we started. We’ve got a lot of race weekends coming up before the summer break, so we will look to fix our qualifying pace and continue building in the races.”

Image: Dutch Photo Agency