In his first on-track appearance since announcing his 2018 season plans, Cameron Das has once again impressed with his pace during the Euroformula Open Winter Series Event at Paul Ricard, France. The young American finished the two-day event with a podium finish for third place having been a protagonist throughout testing on Friday and Saturday morning. The Winter Series event marks the second Euroformula Open official test of the 2018 season with Das now looking ahead to the third and final test at Jerez later this month before the season gets underway in April.
The two-day event at Paul Ricard consisted of a full day of productive testing beginning on Friday for Das and his Carlin team. Using the six sessions on offer to his advantage, Das immediately became a driver to watch and had set the second quickest time of the third session as he successfully reacquainted himself with his Dallara F312 car. The 17-year old Baltimore native continued his strong form throughout both Friday and Saturday morning to set the third fastest time overall.
With the successful test plan complete, his focus quickly turned to Saturday’s qualifying and double-header race event at the French Formula One spec circuit. The 30-minute session was a strong shoot out event for Das who made sure that he lined up on the third row of the grid in sixth overall ahead of the opening race of the weekend; and as the lights went out, Das once again had the mentality of improving on his grid position. True to form, the 2016 F4 US Champion fought well throughout the 14-lap race to gain position and take the flag in fifth overall.
Keen for another strong result, Das was back on the grid for the final race of the weekend just a couple of short hours later. In what is becoming a trade mark for the young American, Das launched brilliantly off the line and took the lead of the race on the opening lap. A tough battle ensued between the top three drivers over the next few laps and, despite some fantastic defending from Das, the positions changed as the fight raged on. Crossing the line in third place Das took a strong podium, signalling his talent and intentions for the upcoming season in the highly competitive Euroformula Open championship.
“I think we’ve had a solid showing this weekend at Paul Ricard,” Das reflected on the event. “While we would’ve liked to be on the top step, I think a podium finish is still a good result. I do think we had the potential to be on the top, but as a team we focused more on testing changes to benefit us in the future. The conditions we had this weekend will probably never happen during the race season, so we focused more on changes that would benefit the conditions we will see later down the road.
“I want to say a huge thanks to the Carlin boys for their commitment as always, and to my sponsors Data Federal, Bertil Roos Racing School, and Autobahn Indoor Speedway. Now, on to Jerez!”
The final official pre-season Euroformula Open test takes place at Jerez later this month.