Rising British Formula 3 International Series ace Alex Lynn put in the best performance of his short career in the category by taking a podium finish at the prestigious Grand Prix de Pau meeting on the historic French street circuit.
The 18-year-old finished third overall in the Saturday race in his Mercedes-powered Fortec Motorsport Dallara, and was second home of the drivers who are eligible for British F3 points.
It was a tough weekend for all the F3 drivers, as the Pau circuit provides no rest for the drivers. Lynn was one of several drivers to make contact with the barriers in free practice, losing him the last few minutes of running, but he bounced back to take fifth on the grid for the opening race.
“Actually I was a little bit disappointed with my position because my pace in free practice made me think I’d be higher up the grid,” he said. “But to be second on the grid out of the British F3 runners is good and it’s a case of trying to keep my nose clean."
In the race, Alex chased British F3 rival Jazeman Jaafar all the way to the flag, only missing out on fastest lap to the Malaysian by a thousandth of asecond. The duo moved up into podium positions when two cars tangled ahead of them at the tight Lycee hairpin.
Alex commented, "I’m so pleased to be on the podium at such a prestigious race meeting.”
Lynn qualified seventh for Sunday’s Grand Prix de Pau and maintained that position in a tight pack to the end. That gave him fourth position in the British F3 classification, completing a useful haul of the points from the French weekend.
“It was 33 laps – 40 minutes – so it was a very tough race mentally,” said Alex, who is a member of the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy, the MSA’s Team UK and the British Racing Drivers Club’s SuperStars programme.
“We had rain on Saturday night, and it washed a lot of the grip away from the track meaning the tyres went off a lot quicker. That made it easy to make mistakes – this race was all about concentration.
“Overall I’m happy to come away from the weekend with what effectively was a second and a fourth. It’s done my championship a lot of good and hopefully it will be the start of a move up the order for me.”
There are now four weeks until the next British F3 round, which takes place on the very different territory of Rockingham in Northamptonshire.
