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Jonathan
Legris made a major impression on the British Formula 3 paddock at
Brands Hatch at the weekend with a scintillating performance in the
fledgling Litespeed F3 car.
Driving
the unique car for the first time on Friday in practice, Jonathan
impressed mightily with a very competitive fourth place on the National
Class grid for race one, although a disappointing second qualifying
session saw him languishing at the tail of the field.
For
Sunday’s raceday, Litespeed had invited a large number of guests which
made their pit box an exciting place to be and added extra pressure to
Jonathan in the team’s desire to do well.
For
the first race, Jonathan made a great start and immediately jumped up
the order to second place in class and was challenging the leader, Jay
Bridger, hard while at the same time having to keep an eye open for
challenges from behind. As the race settled down, Jonathan and Jay
eased away from those behind and Jonathan was again closing in on the
leader when an accident caused the race to be curtailed after a crash
elsewhere on the circuit. Nonetheless this was a fabulous result for
both driver and team, one which they celebrated in style around the
podium and back in the garage afterwards.
For
race two, Jonathan again drove a great first lap to make up places
although starting last it was always going to be hard on a track where
it is almost impossible to overtake. Despite that handicap, he
eventually made his way up to a very creditable fifth in class,
although those in front were long gone by that stage. This was another
good result though for the team so nobody was too downhearted.
Jonathan now returns to his full-time drive with Team West-Tec in the Spanish Formula 3 series for the weekend of July 26th and 27th
as the series christens the exciting and new Monaco-style Valencia
street circuit which hosts F1 at the European Grand Prix in August,
when the Formula 3 will be a prime support race.
Jonathan
is in a healthy fourth place in that Championship overall, only seven
points off the lead in just his first year in the category.
Jonathan
Legris: I really enjoyed this weekend. I think I could have sneaked the
win in race one if it hadn’t been shortened but second place was great
for the team anyway.
Unfortunately
the problems in second qualifying made race two really hard and so the
team made some aggressive set-up changes for that race which didn’t
really work, and made the car much more of a handful, so coming through
to fifth was really as good as could be expected.
The
Litespeed guys are very enthusiastic and the car is basically good,
although at the beginning of its development for racing in British F3.
With some more development and testing I am sure it could be a regular
feature at the front of the field.
Nino
Judge, Litespeed F3 Managing Director: Most people know we are a brand
new team with a brand new car but Jonathan was absolutely fantastic. He
was very fast in the car, gave tremendous feedback and was an all round
pleasure to work with. Everybody at Litespeed was amazed and thrilled
when he scored our maiden podium in just our second ever race weekend!
He certainly justified our decision to offer him the drive, and I must
thank Team West-Tec for allowing him to drive with us this weekend.
John
Miller, Team West-Tec Principal: Jonathan was very impressive this
weekend, with driving performances that I know drew positive comment
and were noticed up and down the pitlane. He has been amazing in
Spanish F3 this year and we agreed to race at Brands to make sure those
in Britain were aware of that impact. After today, perhaps we will
consider doing some more in Britain as the calendar compliments that in
Spain nicely.
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