Showing his credentials in difficult weather on a demanding circuit, Jon again finished as top rookie in the Formula 3 Euroseries, when he brought his ART Dallara home to the finish in seventh place in the second race at Pau on Sunday. The 19 year-old Multiflight supported driver, after recording his maiden podium finish in third place on Saturday, struggled with a lack of grip in the tricky conditions in the 26-lap race, which was started after several exploratory laps behind the safety car.


Photo: Courtesy of www.f3euroseries.com

On a soaking wet track and with the threat of more rain to come, the 30-car grid was forced to hold their grid slots for four laps in almost zero visibility, before the race finally got underway. As the safety car came into the pits the rain started again and, at the restart, in the middle of a track shrouded with blinding spray, Jon was passed by the Italian Edoardo Mortara, runner-up in Saturday’s race, who looked as though he was driving on a dry track in comparison. "Mortara's speed was just stupid," Jon said on his way home on Monday night, "he just had so much grip there was nothing that anybody could have done to stop him!"

For the first half of the race there was little overtaking as the conditions made passing too difficult, with many cars clouting the barriers on the demanding street circuit. On lap eight a move by his experienced team-mate James Jakes, in his third season in F3, relegated Jon to eighth after Jon was held up by the driver ahead of him coming away from one of the tight hairpins.

By the midway point, the rain had stopped and the track began to dry. And on a track on which it is notoriously hard to pass, Jon had to contend himself with getting his ART Grand Prix car to the finish. Many of his more experienced rivals bounced off the barriers causing handling problems for the majority of them, although Jon kept his car on the straight and narrow, despite lacking grip, to bring his mount safely home for seventh place in the wake of his more experienced team-mate.

It had been in the circumstances a steady and sensible effort over the remaining laps, which allowed Jon to get to the flag unscathed, but sadly one place just outside the points. “After the great result we had yesterday, I had hopes of repeating that performance and getting another strong finish. However the conditions at the start of the race were pretty horrendous.

“There was a lot of standing water and a lot of spray, which meant visibility was very poor. As the track dried it was a little easier, but then I was really struggling for grip towards the end of the race, which prevented me from making up any places.

“But these things happen, you can’t dwell on them, you have to just put it behind you and focus on the next race. Race one was a real positive step forward for me, I’ve shown in practice, qualifying, and now the race that I can mix it with the more experienced opposition.

“Now I’m really looking forward to the next round of the championship where hopefully we’ll be able to capitalise on what we’ve learnt here this weekend.”

Jon’s next outing will be in a month’s time, at the Norisring circuit in Nuremberg, Germany, over the weekend of 28/29 June 2008.

Results of Race Two:
1. Edoardo Mortara
 2. Renger van der Zande
 3. Daniel Clos
 4. Christian Vietoris
 5. Franck Mailleux
 6. James Jakes
 7. JON LANCASTER ART Grand Prix