Seventh earns Lancaster first F3 front row start in Germany

Jon Lancaster finished seventh in the first of two Formula 3 Euroseries races at the Nürburgring this weekend setting himself up for his first F3 front row start for Sunday’s race two. The 19 year-old F3 rookie started from the fifth row and was lucky to avoid the stalled cars of his ART Grand Prix team-mate James Jakes and pole-sitter Christian Vietoris.

For the first few laps, Jon was stuck behind Rodolfo Gonzalez, driving very defensively, which prevented Jon from progressing through the field. When the Venezuelan was later penalised for jumping the start and awarded a drive through penalty, Jon was able to get his head down and set about closing down the cars ahead.

For five laps, the BRDC Superstar was running in clear air and lapping consistently among the quickest on the track until Sam Bird rejoined from the pits ahead of him. For almost two laps, the Briton made life difficult for Jon, driving very defensively but eventually he could do nothing to keep the flying Lancaster behind.

Over the remaining laps, Jon was able to pull away from eighth place to cross the line seventh at the conclusion of the 29 laps. With the reverse grid system securing the grid for race two, Jon’s seventh place will put him on the front row for race two alongside pole sitter Niall Breen.

"I made a good start and was lucky to avoid hitting [James] Jakes who stalled ahead of me. For the first few laps I was held up quite badly by [Rodolfo] Gonzalez but when he pitted for his drive through penalty I had several laps where I was able to eke out an advantage and post some pretty quick times.

"Then [Sam] Bird came out of the pits in front of me and drove very defensively for about a lap and a half and I just wasn’t able to get past him. Despite that though, I’m happy with the race and the pace we had, and looking forward to continuing that form into tomorrow’s race.

"The ART Grand Prix team has done a great job this weekend and hopefully I can thank them and repay the faith shown in me by Multiflight with a good result tomorrow. It’s my first front row start in Formula 3 so I hope I can get a good getaway off the line and make a break for it."

Race two will take place on Sunday morning and both races will be broadcast on Motors TV in a two hour programme scheduled to start at 20.00 that evening.

1. Nico Hülkenberg ART Grand Prix 41:11.039

2. Jules Bianchi ART Grand Prix 41:17.787

3. Tom Dillmann Jo Zeller Racing 41:20.086

4. Mika Mäki Mücke Motorsport 41:20.917

5. Renger van der Zande Prema Powerteam 41:28.806

6. Daniel Ricciardo SG Formula 41:34.376

7. Jon Lancaster ART Grand Prix 41:38.810

www.jonlancasterracing.com

- Cathy Metcalfe-  photo automobilsport.com Luc Depiesse