Cameron Das enjoyed his first taste of EuroFormula Open last weekend at Silverstone, as the young American secured a points finish in his debut race, although his Sunday race was restricted to less than a lap after being involved in a collision at the end of the Wellington Straight.
The seventeen-year-old, stepping up into the European-based series for the first time, used Friday’s three practice sessions to acclimatise himself to the car, and then qualified ninth on Saturday morning before finishing the race in a respectable eighth place.
Das again qualified ninth for Sunday’s second race, but found himself colliding with Campos Racing team-mate Matheus Iorio, before his suspension broke a few corners later to force him into retirement.
“The practice on Friday looked really promising considering I had only one set of tyres to use for the whole day, so pace was looking really good and I think it showed a fundamental understanding of the Dallara chassis,” said Das.
“In the first race, I shuffled around quite a bit through the race and ultimately finished eighth which was a good result for my first race in the Championship.
“In the second race there was once again a lot of shuffling on the first lap as everyone fought for positions and towards the end of the lap we went three wide into Brooklands, and only one of us came out. From contact with another car, my suspension buckled a few corners later in Becketts.”
Das will return to the team for the rest of the EuroFormula Open season, starting at the end of the month at the Nazionale Autodromo Monza, and he hopes to take what he learned at Silverstone to get even better results in Italy.
“I found it pretty easy to transition from the British F3 car and it isn’t drastically faster, but you can rely on the aero package more for cornering and braking,” said Das. “I’m still working on set-up with the team, but we’ve made huge progress through the weekend.
“Obviously it is natural for me to want to be at the top anytime that I’m in a race car, but I know I’ll be much more prepared for Monza now I’ve got a bit more experience under my belt. Monza is a mega track, and I’m sure there is going to be some intense racing there which I’m really looking forward to.”
