Competing in the OK category among the world’s top karting hopefuls when you have just moved up from Junior remains a difficult exercise and Jesse Carrasquedo experienced this again during the second round of the FIA Karting European Championship. In France, on the Aunay les Bois circuit, the promising Mexican driver showed an excellent level of performance, but faced too many racing incidents. His Final result was unfortunately affected.
After having faced particularly changeable weather conditions in Belgium during the first round of the European Championship, Jesse Carrasquedo this time had to tame the circuit of Aunay les Bois with its rather particular hilly layout, compared to those on which the young driver is used to racing. Nevertheless, Jesse showed his ability to adapt. On Friday, he set the 4th and 5th fastest times in his group in Free Practice.
“The technical work done with the Parolin Motorsport team and our engine builder allowed us to make good progress in understanding the equipment,” said Jesse. “In the late afternoon, the Qualifying session was not easy to manage. It was important to get the tyres up to temperature without overheating them and to get a good lap when the grip was optimum.”
At the end of this difficult but important exercise, Jesse Carrasquedo was 6th in his group and 24th overall out of 62 drivers. He also had the satisfaction of setting the fastest time of the Parolin Motorsport team. “It was extremely close! Just a tenth faster could have put me in 8th position.”
AN UNFORTUNATE LACK OF SUCCESS
Certainly, the Mexican seems to have the means to progress further in the hierarchy, full of drivers much more experienced than himself. Unfortunately, an important parameter was to complicate his mission. “In three of my four Qualifying Heats, I found myself on the outside line of the starting grid. On the Aunay les Bois circuit, this is really not ideal, as it is extremely difficult to get on the inside, knowing that the first two corners turn right.”
“Jesse has been involved in too many jostles or contacts at the start,” confirmed his team. “This caused him to lose valuable positions during these crucial moments in the race. It’s a pity, because he then showed himself capable of running at a very strong pace once the pack calmed down.”
“All in all, I passed a lot of drivers and was performing very well,” continued Jesse. “In my last heat I lapped in the same tenth as the winner. It’s frustrating to have finished only one place behind the group of 36 finalists! The incident in the first heat was detrimental to me. I’m already looking forward to racing again, I know I can do much better…”
ABOUT JESSE
Born on 27th April, 2007, Jesse Carrasquedo Jr is today one of the great Mexican hopes. Already behind the wheel of a kart at the age of six, the discipline that he started for fun quickly became a passion. Since then, he has been devoted 100% with motivation, work and determination to reaching his ultimate goal: Formula 1.
Winner of several karting events on the American continent, Jesse has progressed a lot thanks to Sergio Perez’s racing school located in Guadalajara and the team of Antonio Perez, the brother of the famous driver. The Mexican didn’t hesitate to come to live in Europe to compete against the best karting hopefuls. Competing in Mini in 2017 and 2018, then in Junior in 2019 and 2020, this promising driver finished 5th in the Rok Cup International Superfinal in Italy last year at the end of a season that was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now 14 years old and a member of the official Parolin Motorsport team, in 2021, Jesse has moved up from Junior to OK, the category before ascending to single-seaters. The young Mexican is preparing his debut in Formula 4 racing very seriously. Closely followed by Red Bull Racing Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez, he is training intensively with the prestigious Campos Racing academy, which has produced drivers such as Fernando Alonso, Luca Di Grassi and Sergio Perez. He benefits from the advice of a driver trained by Adrian Campos, Marc Gené, the former F1 driver, winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and still a test driver for Ferrari.
