Jon will line up on the inside of the fifth row for round four of this weekend's Formula 3 Euroseries at the Norisring on Saturday. It is the 19 year-old BRDC Superstar driver's first ever visit to the German circuit, and he was pleased with the eighth quickest time from Friday’s free practice. This time came despite having to sit out half of the hour-long session when the master switch failed on his ART Grand Prix Dallara.
In the following qualifying session held later on Friday afternoon, the Multiflight-backed teenager improved his lap time by four tenths of a second, in a session that saw the top 28 cars all covered by less than one second! But with the master switch replaced, the rapid Yorkshireman was able to concentrate on getting to grips with the unknown track, but he was sadly unable to get a clear run. His subsequent ninth place grid slot, just over three tenths off pole position, will see him start on the inside of row five. Following on from his superb third place last time out at Pau in France, the talented F3 rookie remains confident of achieving another podium in the race which starts at 11.20am Saturday.
“I’m relatively happy with the performance to be honest as we had the pace pretty much throughout the two sessions,” Jon said after climbing from his car. “In free practice I lost around 25 minutes in the pits while they replaced the master switch, so I wasn’t in a position to push for times. But in qualifying the car worked really well, the aerodynamics were fantastic, and I was in the top four in straight line speed. However I got held up going into the corners, so I had to back off, which cost me time. Overall though, I’m confident that if I can get a good start, I should be able to make up some places off the line. Then, providing I can keep out of trouble at the first corner, I should be able to work my way forward.
"The Norisring is a fantastic track, although it’s a bit bumpy, which means it’s quite easy to lock up under braking, and it doesn’t have a lot of grip. However it’s quite a short circuit so we complete a lot of laps, but it’s a wide track with plenty of overtaking opportunities, so I hope to be able to make up a few places and get a podium finish.”
With the race on Saturday, round seven in the championship, due to start at 11.20am, the second race is scheduled for 10.55am on Sunday morning, and will be shown live on Motors TV.
