Race Weekend Summary: Oulton Park

That’s a wrap at Oulton Park—and what a fantastic weekend!

Having last driven at Oulton almost a year ago, and on a different circuit layout, I knew I needed to get up to speed quickly with only eight test sessions available. Testing went really well, and by the fourth session we had the car dialled into a setup that gave me the confidence and pace to push.

Qualifying

The build-up to qualifying was intense. I knew the car had the speed, but I just couldn’t catch a break with track position to get a strong tow. Despite that, I was really pleased with my driving, with my best laps coming in clean air. We ended up qualifying P15, which left plenty of work to do.

Race 1

Firstly, if you haven’t watched the racing yet, it’s well worth it—just search “Caterham Race Weekend Oulton Park” on YouTube.

I made a great start, gaining several places on the opening laps and quickly joining the lead group. The pace was there to fight for a podium, but the racing was incredibly close and the defending from those around me was superb. There was one heart-stopping moment when I left racing room for the car behind, only to get tagged, but thankfully I managed to gather it up and keep going. After a time penalty was applied to one of the drivers ahead, I finished in P4.

Race 2

Starting from the second row put me right in the fight for the win. The racing was relentless from lights to flag, with no chance to relax. Oulton Park is such a fast, narrow circuit that opportunities to overtake are limited, but I managed to work my way into P2 at one stage after some fantastic battles.

I held onto P3 for a while, but defending so hard meant the tyre temperatures started to climb, making it difficult to maintain grip in the closing laps. I crossed the line in P6, still part of the lead pack.

Race 3

Going into the final race, the goal was another podium challenge. After some great overtakes and close racing, I found myself right in the mix once again. Unfortunately, around halfway through the race, the engine temperatures climbed significantly from running nose-to-tail in the lead train, which felt like it cost around 10% of the engine’s power. That made it difficult to defend my position against those behind, but I still managed to finish P7 in the lead group.

Weekend Summary

Overall, it was an amazing weekend that showed the pace we have as a team. There are plenty of positives to take away, and I’m already looking forward to the next round.

A huge thank you to SmartVision and Stan the App for their continued support—it wouldn’t be possible without you. And thank you to everyone who came along, watched the livestream, or sent messages of support throughout the weekend. It really does make a difference!

Massive thanks to my beautiful family.

Lastly a massive thank you to my friends and team Iain and Stuart for their car prep throughout and Max Bird amazing performance coach.

Dan Crawley, Crawley Racing