After his stunning wet weather pace the previous day, Jon was left frustrated by a technical issue in today's (Friday)qualifying session, which left the Leeds resident 19 year-old unable to repeat his earlier pace yesterday, after climbing back into the car for the first time since his shunt at Hockenheim. Sadly for Jon it meant that a gearbox problem in the crucial qualifying session, for what was the second round of the Formula 3 Euroseries at Mugello in Ialy, left him on grid 22 for the opening race tomorrow (Saturday).



Mugello marked Jon’s first ever visit to the circuit, which made his speed yesterday all the more remarkable (Jon put this down to quality television time with a Playstation..!), where he had been able to run quickest for the most of the time, especially when the weather had been at its worst. He subsequently followed his rapid times in the wet with the eighth quickest time in the dry session, despite a problem that the team were trying to resolve.

Despite his frustration, the ART Grand Prix driver remained characteristically cool and confident as he looked forward to Saturday’s opening race, his first around the stunning 5.245-kilometre circuit in Tuscany.

“It’s unfortunate that we had a technical problem in qualifying, but it’s just one of those things,” said Jon. “The Mugello track is fantastic though, I’m really looking forward to the race although it’s going to be a tough challenge starting so far down.

“After the performance in free practice, we had the capability of qualifying in the top five I’m sure. So I’m fairly confident of being on the pace during the race tomorrow. The aim will have to be to finish eighth, which would put me on pole position for the second race on Sunday.”

Many times in the past few years Jon has demonstrated the art of overtaking from a lowly qualifying position, and his steely eyed determination suggests his approach to Formula 3 will not be any different. The start tomorrow should be worth the wait.