Top Brit Lancaster takes podium at Masters in Zolder

Rising British star Jon Lancaster underlined his potential with a stirring third place to finish top Briton in Sunday’s RTL GP Masters of F3 race at Zolder. Starting from seventh on the grid, the Multiflight-backed driver didn’t put a wheel wrong to get the final podium position, completing a podium lock-out for the ART Grand Prix team.

Although the rain had stopped, the track was wet as the race got underway and a superb start by the 19 year-old allowed him to gain two places off the line and capitalise on an early collision between Renger van der Zande and Koudai Tsukakoshi who both started from the second row. This put the BRDC Superstar immediately into third behind a fast-starting Jules Bianchi who got the jump on pole-sitter Nico Hulkenberg.

In the opening laps the tricky conditions caught out many of the drivers, leaving cars spinning off all round the track. Jon however drove another faultless race, following his maiden lights-to-flag F3 victory last time out, to keep on terms with the lead duo.

As the race entered the sixth lap the track began to dry and with his Dallara F308 Mercedes and Kumho tyres performing well was able to gradually close down the gap to the leaders. By the midway point Jon had closed up to the tail enders and as they entered the chicane, he was badly held up, costing him six seconds on just one lap.

Despite this he was able to maintain his position and at the flag, Jon had extended his advantage over fourth-placed Mika Maki to nearly six seconds leaving the Leeds teenager happy with his performance on his first ever Masters of F3 appearance.

"I had good traction off the line and made a great start, passing Max Chilton and Stefano Coletti and managed to avoid the collision between van der zande and Tsukakoshi. For the first few laps we were running very close together at the front but as the track dried I didn’t seem to have as much traction as the other two.

"At the midpoint though the car was fantastic and I’d started to close down the gap to Jules and Nico until I started lapping backmarkers on slicks who almost came to a stop at the chicane. That cost me around six seconds on one lap which was a bit frustrating. It was tall order to get a win this weekend, particularly after missing half the testing on Friday so I’m very happy to get a podium finish.

"Once again the ART Grand Prix team did a fantastic job all weekend, the car was brilliant and I’m delighted for them to have got three of their drivers onto the podium. We’ve had two good weekends now, a win last time out and a podium today, so now we head to Brands looking for another win."

1 Jules Bianchi ART Grand Prix Dallara F308 Mercedes 45:19.275

2 Nico Hülkenberg ART Grand Prix Dallara F308 Mercedes 45:23.770

3 Jon Lancaster ART Grand Prix Dallara F308 Mercedes 45:39.814

4 Mika Mäki Mücke Motorsport Dallara F308 Mercedes 45:46.305

5 Brendon Hartley Carlin Motorsport Dallara F308 Mercedes 45:53.445

6 Atte Mustonen Räikkönen Robertson Racing Dallara F308 Mercedes 45:59.811

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