The results from both races over the weekend, were enough to demonstrate how Jon had to cope with a car that was less than ideal for a Championship effort, as he prepared for Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2008 Euro F3 season:

Race 1, grid 22, finished 23rd
Race 2, grid 23, finished 25th

It was not what the youngster from Leeds in West Yorkshire had expected, especially after topping the timesheets in the wet on the previous Thursday, or matching the dry times with an eventual eighth best on a drying track the same afternoon.



It was important to make clear that Jon was fully recovered from his Hockenheim shunt, as one commentator pondered on air, but serious gearbox issues, combined with an oversteering car, sealed his first Italian trip to Mugello as a wasted effort.

“We started off the weekend really good," he explained after the race had ended on Sunday, "and we were quickest in the wet, and about eighth in the dry in the first two sessions on Thursday. And then on Friday, we made some mistakes with the gearbox, which was the reason we were the way we were. The first session we were about ninth due to the gearbox problem, and qualifying saw a similar problem, where the gearbox went, and that was the end of the race! Despite driving fantastically, I’ll admit that we made quite a few mistakes, but it’s impossible to overtake from the back of the grid.”

Team boss Frederic Vasseur commented that it had been "a real shame Jon had several mechanical gremlins over the weekend, in both practice and qualifying. It prevented him from showing his full potential, which is quite high, and we have to make sure this doesn’t happen again."

It is important that Jon has a trouble free run so that he can show "his full potential", as he looks forward to his 'main' season starting at round 5 in a few weeks time. After Mugello it can only get better, and Jon will be looking to ART Grand Prix to help him engineer a car, which can help to return him to his race-winning ways.

Speaking from Italy on Bank Holiday Monday Jon was still in a very positive frame of mind. "Yeah, we all know what went wrong at the weekend, so it should not happen again. Pau is next and I'm really looking forward to that one, as the driver needs to be very precise between the barriers on what is a tight street circuit. This one should be fun and this time I cannot wait."

Jon now has a point to prove!