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Leeds racing sensation Jon Lancaster survived the
carnage of Pau to take a well-deserved first ever Formula Three podium in
Saturday’s opening F3 Euroseries race. The 19 year-old Multiflight-backed
driver made a great start, passing Maximillian Gotz and Koudai Tsukakoshi off
the line.
As the cars filed through the first corner, Jon moved up
another place but dropped back to cross the line tenth at the completion of the
opening lap. On lap two he was up to eighth passing Yann Clairay and Richard
Philippe at the hairpin before setting off after Jean-Karl Vernay in
seventh.
In superb form, the ART Grand Prix driver, held his nerve on
his first ever street circuit race, moved up to seventh a lap later when Mika
Maki retired. A brief encounter with the barrier on lap five damaged his rear
left wishbone. Despite that Jon kept his head and closed down the gap to Vernay
and Christian Vietoris for fifth taking the place before the completion of the
lap.
Two safety car periods were held to retrieve the
stricken cars of first his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg on lap 10 and then Erik
Janis a lap later. At the restart and with 10 laps remaining, the BRDC
Superstar maintained fourth place but made a superb move to take Frank Mailleux
nine laps from home. At the flag, Jon had reduced the gap to the leader from
just over four seconds to just over a second to take his first ever F3
podium.
“I’m absolutely over the moon,” said Jon. “I said before
the race if I can work my way through the field and get a good finish then I
could be on the way to my first win tomorrow. That now looks more like a
possibility than it ever did. The car was great throughout, until I brushed the
barrier on lap five.
“After that I had massive oversteer and no traction on
the straight. I was closing on Edoardo Mortara over the closing stages of the
race, but there was no way I could get past him on the straight.”
On the reverse grid system for the top eight, Jon’s
third place finish means he will start Sunday’s race two from the outside of the
third row. The rapid Yorkshireman, who twice set the races’ overall fastest
lap, is determined to add a first win to his first podium finish in the series
that attracts the cream of International F3 drivers.
“Today I started from 12th and finished third. If I can
repeat that performance tomorrow, I should be able to get another good points
finish and hopefully my first win in F3. It would be a great way to thank David
Hood and give everyone at Multiflight something to really shout about.
”
Race two will be shown live on Motors TV tomorrow and
the programme is scheduled to start at 4pm UK time.
Results of Race One – 29 laps
1.
James Jakes ART Grand Prix 41:06.198
2. Edoardo Mortara Signature-Plus
41:06.860
3. JON LANCASTER ART Grand Prix 41:07.449
4. Franck Mailleux Signature-Plus 41:10.782
5. Christian VIETORIS Mucke
Motorsport 41:12.503
6. Dani CLOS Prema Powerteam 41:14.260
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