Cameron Das ended his 2018 Euroformula Open Championship season with stunning pace in the season finale in Barcelona, Spain which saw him produce a magnificent fight back to fifth position from the very back of the field. Good pace in testing was replaced with difficulties during both races this weekend including an incident with his teammate which sent him off track and left him stuck right at the very back of the field in the early stages of the race. Das persevered and fought from 15th, and last, all the way up to fifth marking an incredible and determined fight back in the face of awful luck during the final round of the season. Das ended the 2018 Euroformula Open Championship in fifth overall taking a total of four brilliant podiums, 1 fastest racing lap and 12 top six finishes.
At a track Das enjoys he was looking likely to be a protagonist from the get-go throughout two days of testing on Thursday and Friday which once again saw the 2016 F4 US Champion prove his outright pace. However, on Saturday morning for the opening qualifying session of the weekend, things didn’t quite pull together during the 30-minute shootout and Das ended up starting the opening race of the weekend from fifth position.
From there, he tried to make an impression on the race but found himself to be at a disadvantage in regards to his tire life in juxtaposition to those around him; leaving him unable to capitalise on his raw pace from the previous days meaning he took the flag in sixth.
Following on from a second tough qualifying session on Sunday morning in which Das was quite out of position on the grid in seventh, he put his head in the game and was prepared for a fight from the minute the overhead gantry lights went out.
However he came upon an uphill battle when he was tagged by his Carlin team-mate Matheus Iorio which pushed him far off track as everyone else streamed by. Re-joining the track with thankfully no serious damage to his Dallara chassis, the talented American was at the very back of the field with a challenge to face. Getting stuck in, Das immediately gained one position as he muscled his way through. From there, he set about to execute beautiful passes on countless drivers ahead.
Held up only by two safety car periods Das managed to supremely work his way up from 15th to fifth as the flag fell on the very last race of the 2018 Euroformula Open Championship.
Reflecting on the weekend, “We certainly ended the final race of the season on a high. Our qualifying performance was not ideal and in the first race, we struggled a bit with older tires compared to a lot of the grid around us so there wasn’t much to do. The second race, however, was a completely different story. I started seventh but was quickly taken out by a damaged car on the first lap. I fell back to 15th, but I worked back through the pack methodically to finish fifth at the checkered flag.”
With the 2018 season complete, Das said, “I would like to thank everyone at Carlin for working with me this season. A special shout-out to Harvey, Paul, Guy, and Aydan helping out with the #28 machine! They are a group of incredibly hard-working people. I feel as though I’ve improved tremendously as a driver and now it’s onto the next chapter!”