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Legris on the pace and on the podium |
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Friday, 01 August 2008 |
It was a historic weekend as Team West-Tec’s Spanish F3 team raced on
the brand new Valencia street circuit on the weekend of 26th and 27th
July.
With the fantastic new circuit winding its way round the America’s Cup
port for over 5km, and including an attention grabbing bridge section
it was a great place to be, despite Friday’s free practice being
severely restricted due to the finishing touches still being put to the
facility.
With the first session of unrestricted running being delayed until
Saturday, the West-Tec drivers were well on the pace and looking to
show well.
Despite not finding the much older F300 as suited to the track as
expected, Jonathan was disappointed to line up ninth after qualifying –
which still comfortably left him the fastest of the three British
drivers in the field.
Another to make a good start, Jonathan moved up continually over the
race to end up with a fine fifth place overall, which secured third
place in the Copa de Espana Class for the Dallara F306/F300 cars, to
maintain the team’s record of scoring at least one podium in every
Spanish F3 weekend that the team has ever taken part in.
This finish put him on the front row for the second race and he
responded well, actually leading for a short while on the opening lap
before settling in to a steady third overall position. What wasn’t
apparent was that he was already suffering with gearbox maladies and a
misfire. After dropping down the order to sixth place over the next few
laps he was eventually forced to retire to the pits as the misfire
worsened. The team quickly traced that to an ignition coil but by then
it was all too late. What was particularly galling was the coil was
brand new on Friday as the team routinely replaced a lifed component!
Nonetheless Jonathan’s performances again marked him out as a man to
watch and he maintains an amazing position in the overall Championship
just 14 points off the outright lead, despite competing in a car
between six and eight years older than many of his rivals have at their
disposal.
Other Team West-Tec drivers also had eventful races with Christian
Ebbesvik taking a superb third place on the 29 car grid – even though
both of his best laps were ruined by red flags. A good start saw TCE
move up to second and, after a safety car period, he and Alguersuari
pulled away from the field and Ebbesvik was threatening to find a way
past the highly-rated Spanish driver.
Unfortunately pushing just a little bit too hard meant that on lap 11
Christian clipped a kerb and spun, rejoining much further down the
order. From a lowly starting position, Christian was the undoubted star
of race two, moving up relentlessly as he made to way to a superb
fourth place at the finish. Unfortunately, he was then given a time
penalty for an alleged safety car infringement – that was vehemently
denied by the Norwegian, which dropped him back down the order.
Francisco Villar qualified in a competitive 18th position, but was
another to suffer as his best laps were ruined by red flags when he was
in the last sector. Having seen his data, Francisco was set for two
racy outings but suffered appalling luck in both races.
In race one, he moved up three places on the opening lap but was then
taken out totally by an out of control Xavi Barrio entering the bridge
on lap two. With the suspension completely broken on the front right,
Francisco had no choice but to stop.
After sterling work by the team, Francisco was able to start race two
with a fully repaired car, albeit from the back of the grid. He again
moved forward strongly, passing several cars on the first part of
opening lap before again being hit from behind and pushed into the
wall, breaking all of the parts that had just been replaced as well as
those on the left too.
Making his debut, both with Team West-Tec and in F3, Ma Qing Hua
produced an excellent performance over the whole weekend. Finding a
brand new street circuit far from the ideal place to take your first
steps in a new Formula, Ma nonetheless impressed by taking 19th in
qualifying. The team data showed several places to improve and Ma
certainly was even better in the races, although both were spoiled a
little by poor starts. However, the Chinese moved forward in both races
and came away with good 15th and 12th place finishes as he drove tidy
and combative races, overtaking regularly despite the track having few
genuine overtaking places.
Jonathan Legris: The first race was great, and to finish on the podium
here was a special experience. Race two was obviously more
disappointing but I am sure we will be on the pace when we return.
Team Principal, Gavin Wills: Jonathan was stunning again – in fact the
team are starting to become immune to realising just how significant
his achievements are in the F3000
The Spanish F3 Championships now look forward to return to the street
circuit in Valencia, to support F1 at the European Grand Prix in August.
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