FEATURE RACE: Crawford in stunning form to seal victory through Silverstone rain

Jak Crawford was in sublime form on Sunday morning, putting in a dominant performance to win a rain-affected Silverstone Feature Race.

The DAMS Lucas Oil driver took the lead at the start from third on the grid and held off Alexander Dunne late on to claim victory at the British venue.

Dunne finished in second for Rodin Motorsport, while Luke Browning’s stunning charge through the field from P12 took him to the final spot on the podium.

AS IT HAPPENED

It was a bad launch for pole-sitter Victor Martins as Crawford jumped up from third on the grid to take the lead on the run to Turn 1, with Dunne in second.

Martins managed to retain third ahead of Roman Stanek as Joshua Duerksen settled into fifth for AIX Racing.

Arvid Lindblad and Browning continued their battling from the Sprint Race as they went side by side through Stowe on Lap 2, with the Williams Driver Academy member taking P8 with a switchback at Vale.

Dino Beganovic then followed his Hitech teammate through on the next lap at Turn 4, dropping the Campos Racing driver down to 10th.

Browning continued his charge through the field on Lap 4, going down the inside of Richard Verschoor at Copse corner to P7. Beganovic once again followed his lead, going past the MP Motorsport driver at the final corner.

The Hitech pairing were flying and on Lap 5. Browning used the switchback at Turn 4 to overtake Sebastián Montoya for sixth, with Beganovic again following him through a few corners later.

Back at the front, Crawford had built a 1.8s gap to Dunne, and they were also pulling away from Martins in third, who was 3.2s behind Dunne, as Duerksen and Browning closed in on Stanek in fourth.

The Paraguayan took P4 from his Invicta Racing rival on the run to Copse, with Browning taking advantage of Stanek going wide to take fifth.

As had become customary during the race, Beganovic again followed Browning through a few corners, going to the inside of Stanek at Vale to go up to sixth.

Lap 11 got underway with the Hitech duo was right on the tail of Duerksen, but the AIX driver resisted each one of their attempts to overtake.

Behind them though, Lindblad made slight contact with Verschoor in the battle for P9 at the exit of Turn 5, and this allowed Leonardo Fornaroli to take 10th from the Campos rookie.

Browning’s pressure on Duerksen finally paid off, as he went up the inside of Luffield to move into fourth place.

DRS was enabled on Lap 15 of 29, just as the sun started to come out, with the track beginning to dry out, prompting the teams to ask the drivers about changing to slicks.

This was helping Browning as he had closed to within DRS range of Martins, who was struggling on his Wet tyres, although their battle was helping Duerksen close in from fifth.

The British driver finally made his way past his fellow Williams junior, sailing round the outside of Martins at Luffield on Lap 18.

Back in the fight for the win, Crawford’s lead that had been 1.8s was now just 0.6s, although Browning was closing in fast on the DAMS driver and Dunne.

Lindblad and Kush Maini were the first drivers to pit. The former was on Wet tyres, while the latter put on the Hards.

Gabriele Minì then stuck on the Softs, but struggled to warm them up and going side-by-side with Oliver Goethe, who pitted for the Wets. The pair collided, sending the PREMA Racing driver into a spin.

From third, Browning made the bold call to pit for a second set of the Wet tyres, as Crawford and Dunne went side-by-side into Turn 4, although the race leader kept the position.

The Virtual Safety Car was deployed with Minì and Stanek having stopped on track, and Crawford pitted for a second set of the Wet tyres on Lap 23.

The VSC then turned into a full Safety Car on Lap 25, prompting several drivers, such as Dunne, Martins, Duerksen and Beganovic to pit for another set of Wet tyres.

The Safety Car was called in on Lap 27, as the rain began to fall once more. Crawford had retaken the lead ahead of Dunne, Browning, Duerksen and Beganovic.

Racing resumed with Duerksen spinning into a stoppage down the Main Straight, while Martins, who had sustained front wing damage, was falling through the field.

With the AIX car needing to be cleared, the Safety Car was called upon once more, and with no time to return to racing, Crawford crossed the line to win ahead of Dunne, with Browning joining them on the podium.

Beganovic finished fourth, ahead of Montoya, while Fornaroli finished sixth for Invicta. Verschoor wound up in seventh, ahead of the Campos pairing of Lindblad and Josep María Martí, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagómez taking the final point in P10.

KEY QUOTE – Jak Crawford, DAMS Lucas Oil

“Great race today, taking the win. Had a great start, managed to hold on to the lead for a while. Obviously, Alex was quite fast behind me, the race was drying out, we had to make a quick decision to go slicks or wets and we made the pit stop at the right time, right when the VSC came out, managed to keep the lead, What a day!”

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Richard Verschoor retains the lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship with 122 points, while Jak Crawford jumps up to second, just six points behind. Alexander Dunne is third on 108, while Leonardo Fornaroli is fourth with 104, as Luke Browning rounds out the top five on 98 points.

In the Teams’ Standings, Campos Racing continue to lead the way on 153 points, but DAMS Lucas Oil are up to second 142 points, just one point ahead of Hitech TGR in third. MP Motorsport are third on 134 points, with Invicta Racing rounding out the top five on 133.

UP NEXT

There is a short break in the action before the drivers return to the track for Round 9 at Spa-Francorchamps from July 25-27.