PREMA Racing took second place today at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as American Red Bull Junior racer Jak Crawford took his third consecutive podium finish in the FIA Formula 3 Championship Sprint Race.
The American had a quick start to P2 and then gave chase for the lead car. A small discount to avoid a possible incident eventually forced him to be satisfied with P2.
Championship leader Arthur Leclerc finished fourth. The Monegasque Ferrari Driver Academy member started from P7 from the inverted grid after a positive qualifying effort yesterday and was able to gain ground despite the lack of overtaking opportunities.
It was not an easy run for series rookie Ollie Bearman. After starting from P6, the British driver did not gain the right confidence in the car and the conditions and struggled to keep up the pace.
Ahead of the feature race, which will take place tomorrow, Leclerc and Crawford are first and second respectively in the drivers’ championship.
ARTHUR LECLERC
“It was a good race, I’m happy with the result, of course I would have preferred a podium place, but the speed is there. It’s really hard to overtake here, but we managed to take all the chances we got, and now we’re keeping our heads down for tomorrow.”
JAK CRAWFORD
“It was one of my best races. I pushed quite a bit to catch Vidales, and once I caught him and tried to attack and there was a side-by-side situation I think I was a little frustrated and maybe overwhelmed. Obviously, I’m happy with the second and happy with the points, I hoped I could win the race, but at the end of the day it’s only one point. Another time I will try harder to save the tires and hopefully we can get good points again.”
OLIVER BEARMAN
“It was a tough race. The first few laps weren’t bad, I think I lost a position, but after that I really struggled with the tires and had quite a bit of understeer so I couldn’t keep up with the pace. I was under attack from a lot of other drivers and we have to work tonight to sort that out for tomorrow to hopefully have a better race.”