{"id":3317,"date":"2021-06-20T16:29:38","date_gmt":"2021-06-20T16:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=3317"},"modified":"2021-06-21T16:30:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T16:30:00","slug":"crawford-fast-but-qualifying-challenges-prevent-better-f3-results-at-paul-ricard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2021\/06\/20\/crawford-fast-but-qualifying-challenges-prevent-better-f3-results-at-paul-ricard\/","title":{"rendered":"Crawford Fast, but Qualifying Challenges Prevent Better F3 Results at Paul Ricard"},"content":{"rendered":"

LE CASTELLET, France (20 June 2021)<\/strong> \u2013 Jak Crawford completed a challenging weekend in FIA Formula 3 competition with a points-paying finish driving in the rain in the second weekend of the 2021 campaign at Circuit Paul Ricard this weekend.<\/p>\n

After qualifying didn\u2019t go as hoped for, the three races on the weekend gave the 16-year-old Texan the chance to generate plenty of overtaking in all three races. Driving for Hitech Grand Prix, the Red Bull Junior Team driver gained six positions in Sunday\u2019s finale to finish 10th after finishing 11th and 14th in the Saturday races. However, challenges in qualifying plus a mishap at the start of the second race prevented him from posting better results. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\nFor the second-consecutive F3 race weekend, Crawford\u2019s qualifying put him on the back foot for the three-race event. Running in the top five for much of the qualifying session, he dropped from sixth to 16th, dropping from fifth in the closing minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bad qualifying for me,\u201d Crawford admitted. \u201cWe definitely had the speed for a top five, but I made a mistake so we ended up being 16th. My true pace was in the top five. That was unfortunate, because it really set my weekend back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening race saw Crawford gain two positions in the opening laps after starting 16th. Running 13th with two laps remaining, he gained two positions entering the final lap.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first race was good,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cI was racing against all the people that qualified in the front because of the reverse grid for the top 12. The pace was good, and considering that I was racing all the good guys and it was very difficult to overtake, I think it was a good race.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the top 12 from the first race inverted, that put Crawford on the front row for race two. His car lurched forward, but suddenly stopped at lights out, allowing most of the field to stream by as he eventually joined the race in 29th position. Up to 20th by lap three, Crawford patiently worked his way forward en route to finishing 14th.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe start of race two was a bit unfortunate,\u201d he said. \u201cWe definitely needed to make the most of that race, but the exact reason for what happened is a bit unknown. We looked through everything and it\u2019s a situation where we don\u2019t know exactly what happened. Our recovery drive was pretty good, coming from last to 14th. It\u2019s just a shame about the start.\u201d<\/p>\n

After nice weather all weekend, Sunday dawned with steady rain that continued through the opening laps of the final race. Once precipitation let off, the second half of the 20-lap event saw drying track conditions that gradually wore out the Pirelli rain tires used for the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an interesting race, and it was really wet,\u201d Crawford explained. \u201cIt was impossible to see during the opening two laps. I was just trying to keep my nose clean and try not to get into any wrecks. Once my tires started to come in, I progressed forward, and I had really good pace. I got into 10th but I had to give it back because of an unfortunate call by the stewards, and that cost me four or five seconds. After that, the pace was good and I was one of the quickest on the track once I got into clean air.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crawford then regained 10th a lap later, but was five seconds behind ninth. Over the final two laps, he closed in on that position, which would have equaled his best finish of the year from the opening weekend at Barcelona.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was close [to taking ninth], but I used up my tires catching up and I didn\u2019t have anything left at the end. The pace was good all weekend, really,\u201d Crawford summed up. \u201cIt was just unfortunate about the qualifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a weekend off, Crawford is optimistic looking to the next F3 event, which will be on July 2-4 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, the third of seven rounds on the 2021 schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done tons of days at the Red Bull Ring,\u201d he said. \u201cI know the track very well, and I\u2019m looking forward to it very much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crawford also runs in the Euroformula Open when his schedule allows. He won two races and finished second in his most recent weekend in that series last month. His next race in the Euroformula Open will be July 9-11 at the Hungaroring in Hungary.<\/p>\n

Media Contact:\u00a0<\/strong>media@sundaymanagement.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LE CASTELLET, France (20 June 2021) \u2013 Jak Crawford completed a challenging weekend in FIA Formula 3 competition with a points-paying finish driving in the rain [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jak-crawford-racing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3319,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3317\/revisions\/3319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}