Jesse Carrasquedo: An excellent preparation for the European Championship
The young and very promising Mexican driver Jesse Carrasquedo has taken part in the third and final round of the WSK Euro Series. Held in Sarno, this meeting was an ideal preparation for the next round of the FIA Karting European Championship for OK, which will take place soon on the international circuit located near Naples in Italy. After a lot of fine-tuning work with the Parolin Motorsport team, Jesse Carrasquedo won his place among the finalists, while managing to progressively move up the rankings.
Jesse Carrasquedo continues to divide his time between continuing his karting season and making his single-seater debut with great determination. In Sarno, Jesse and his Parolin-TM Racing-LeCont package experienced difficult conditions. "The heat was constant during the event and we had to deal with very high grip asphalt," said Jesse. "It was never easy! Free Practice enabled us to do a lot of laps so we could find the best technical solutions for the race. It was positive, as I managed to get into the fastest group of drivers in Qualifying."
A hard-won place in the final
Between Friday afternoon and Saturday evening, three Qualifying Heats were scheduled. In the first heat, the young Mexican managed to recover and finally came 17th. The second heat was calmer and Jesse kept his 13th place from the start. His lap times were not as good as he would have liked, but he lost precious places in the first lap of the last heat. Jesse had to settle for 22nd position and fell to 33rd overall in the three heats. He had no room for error in the Prefinal and succeeded in qualifying for the Final.
"From then on, I had no other choice than to attack to try to gain places, exploiting the maximum potential of my machine. I was able to overtake several drivers to move up from 31st to 26th place. Racing in this tough OK class as one of the youngest drivers in the field is never easy, but I know I still have a big learning curve ahead of me."
Jesse Carrasquedo will return to the Sarno circuit from 8th to 11th July with great ambitions. The Mexican hopes to score his first points in the FIA Karting European Championship. "Physically and mentally I will be ready," concluded the driver who is closely followed by his compatriot Sergio Perez, currently driving for the Red Bull Formula 1 team.
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.