Jon’s preparations for the forthcoming Formula Renault Eurocup season, delivered a very encouraging test in Germany last week, when he tested at the Nurburgring circuit. This test also had a double benefit for Jon and his new team, as the Eurocup series will be visiting the track
for one of the forthcoming rounds on 5/6 May 2007.



“We had a good test at the Nurburgring last week,” Jon explained, “and in the rain we were fifth fastest at the end of the day, which was good.” Unfortunately the second day had to be abandoned “because of a foot of snow!”

Moving over to France the following week, “we were at Le Mans for a two day test on Monday and Tuesday of this week. On the first day in the morning session we were fifth quickest again, but only just 0.121s away from P1. This was in the dry, which did shock a few people, and definitely got them talking about me again!!”

“By the end of the day we ended up 11th overall, because I got held up on my second set of tyres, but never mind. Day two was good because we were fourth after being P1 for much of the morning, which was fantastic! But when we put the (next set of) tyres on, we had gearbox problems, so I missed a corner, but we still ended up in P4 position. By the end of the day I was left in P11 again, but we didn’t put any more tyres on, because the front wooden floor was broken and we could not get another, so we saved a set of tyres instead.”

Running fastest at one stage had certainly boosted Jon’s growing confidence, and to be regularly inside the top six overall added further encouragement. “I was really happy and the team were really impressed, because this was the
first time we had been to a track I had been to before with the team, so it was a test for me to show I am fast… and I did!”

“This is a huge leap forward for me being a complete rookie,” Jon said, “because I was constant top five, and everything was feeling normal to me again like in karting,” which is a danger warning to Jon’s rivals. “So come the first race (scheduled for Zolder in Belgium at the end of April) I think we may have a few surprises!