Interview
A delighted Yannick Hubert praised his DAMS Lucas Oil team’s performance in Barcelona after Jak Crawford claimed victory in the Feature Race ahead of Juan Manuel Correa in third.
It was the French outfit’s first victory since the Monte Carlo Sprint Race last season and one that came off the strength of their Qualifying performance.
Crawford qualified second behind Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron, missing out on pole by just 0.002s, while Correa was just under two and a half tenths off top spot in eighth.
It was the first time DAMS have had both drivers qualify in the top 10 all year and their Team Principal was happy that they finally put it all together on a Friday.
READ MORE: Round 6 Post Feature Race Press Conference
“It's fantastic,” hailed Hubert. “From the very beginning of this season we showed strong performances, especially in the races, but we were up and down in quali.
“This time we were capable of getting it right in both quali and the race, so this is fantastic for the team. I have to say that they worked really hard to understand how we can fix this quali issue and I am pleased for them that it worked, in Barcelona particularly.”
Crawford’s first Formula 2 Feature Race victory came off the back of a difficult first stint where he lost ground to Aron and, by the time he pitted for the Hards, he was three seconds behind the Estonian leader.
Hubert revealed that the American driver’s Soft tyre had overheated meaning they had to pull the trigger and bring him in early on Lap 9.
From then on Crawford pushed hard on his first three laps after stopping, allowing him to undercut Aron and to take the effective race lead.
Aron would later go off track while chasing Crawford giving the Aston Martin Development driver some breathing room out front, and he would go on to manage the rest of the race well to take the victory.
Hubert revealed he was impressed with the team’s and driver’s adaptability, also admitting that with his racing pedigree they expect these sort of front running drives from Crawford now.
FEATURE RACE: Crawford supreme in Barcelona victory
“Basically, from what I understood he overheated his tyres at the start of the race, so we decided to pit for the Prime tyres,” revealed Hubert.
“This way we tried what we could for the undercut, but you have to push really hard on tyres and maybe he paid for it at the end of the race because his pace was not that good but nevertheless, it was the right choice because at least he could be in free air.”
Hubert also praised the work of Correa who, on the alternative strategy, made a late dash through the field, pulling off a number of overtakes to go from eighth to third.
“Whatever the strategy you need the performance to score big points,” said Hubert. “He had the alternative strategy which was the right choice at his position, and he showed very strong pace.
“We are very proud of him because I can tell you he works really hard to be at this level and seeing him on the podium is fantastic, looking at JM's performances during the race, it was fantastic.”
Crawford: DAMS have shot at victory after impressive Sprint showing
There is not that long for Hubert and his DAMS team to celebrate their victory as they head to Spielberg this weekend for Round 7 of the season.
While the team will be riding a wave of confidence heading into the weekend, Hubert has urged them to remain “humble” and to take it round by round.
“Let’s be humble, no big expectations,” added Hubert. “First, we have to understand what we need in Austria, we know that it's a mickey mouse track, very narrow, very small, so it will be a different challenge, so nothing to compare with here. We just have to be very focused on the next event as a single event and do the job.”