It was very much a case of ‘The Italian Job’ for Jordon Lennox-Lamb when the WSK Euro Series made its final stop of the 2010 campaign at Sarno close to Naples, as he converted an off-colour qualifying performance into what was by some margin his finest result of the season come the end of the weekend.
Jordon travelled to the demanding Campania circuit with an excellent previous record there with the factory Topkart outfit – having invariably featured right up at the sharp end of proceedings, and having claimed a superb seventh place in the CIK-FIA European Championship Final in KF3, despite grappling with engine issues – but preparing to compete there for the first time with Birel, and on the back foot somewhat after suffering a plague of different issues and misfortunes in recent months.
“It’s a really good drivers’ track,” the young Bedford karting star enthused. “Quite a few of the circuits this year have relied a lot on the engine, whereas Sarno has more corners than straights and as such is quite physical. Straight out-of-the-box we were fast, and in the final practice session before timed qualifying we were two or three tenths quicker than anyone else – but we struggled in qualifying with too much grip on the back of the kart.
“That was disappointing, as we had been on such a high after that last practice session, but we were still confident we had the pace to be able to come back and we were determined that it wouldn’t be a problem – Sarno is quite fast and flowing with a decent number of overtaking opportunities around the lap, but drivers often try to close the door on you when you go up the inside around there, so you have to be careful too.”
Winding up mired in the midfield in 28th position overall amongst the 56-strong KF2 class field – the very crème de la crème of international talent at that level – is not where Jordon is accustomed to being, although he was only four tenths of a second shy of the benchmark in his group.
From the sixth row of the grid, the 18-year-old subsequently had to battle against engine woes in his opening two heats – costing him as much as half a second a lap, yet finishing an impressive fifth and eighth – and found himself harpooned by a rival at the beginning of heat three, recovering brilliantly to seventh at the chequered flag and topping that off with a strong fifth place in heat four, less than two seconds adrift of the winner.
“In the first heat the engine problem didn’t affect us too badly,” he recalled, “and luckily I had a bit of a gap behind so the others didn’t catch me. In heat two I was in the middle of a gaggle of karts, so it was more difficult to keep my position. Then in the warm-up on Sunday morning the brake cable broke. I’d had ‘good luck’ plates on the kart that somebody had given me in Milan, but after the issues we had on Saturday I had thought about removing them – and when the brake cable went, I whipped them straight off!”
Eleventh in the intermediate rankings – with only the top 34 drivers progressing on to the finals – Jordon began the pre-final from the favoured inside line. After making short work of moving up to fourth, he went on to track his third-placed adversary throughout, expertly lulling his quarry into a false sense of security and then pouncing almost within sight of the finish line, coming in less than three seconds adrift of victory and setting a better fastest lap time than the race-winner to-boot.
“I knew there were some good drivers starting in front of me, but I was confident of getting through them,” he related, “and I was mindful of needing to keep my tyres good for the grand final, too. I settled into fourth about halfway through and then slowly chased down third place, and I got him on the last lap. I was a lot faster in the last sector, so I held a bit of a gap behind to make him feel comfortable, and then lunged him into the last corner.
“I was fourth for the first few laps in the grand final and then made my move for third again, but unfortunately he got me back going down the straight. We then got tangled up a bit with the drivers behind and I fell down to sixth at one point. I managed to get back to fourth but just ran out of laps to challenge for third. We had strong pace, and I’m fairly confident that had I not been re-passed straightaway like I was and got into a battle behind, I could have fought for the win.”
Another better fastest lap time than the winner and crossing the line a scant 2.2 seconds shy of the top spot underlined Jordon’s conviction, and with comfortably his best results of the 2010 WSK campaign, the Kimbolton Road ace was able to show just what he is capable of when everything goes to-plan.
Hoping that his change in fortunes could be a sign of things to come, he now has a new focus and challenge ahead, as he prepares to tackle the inaugural WSK World Series, taking in rounds in Portugal, America and Egypt. With the CIK-FIA European Championship Final at Genk thrown into the mix for good measure, it is a busy summer schedule but one that he is palpably eagerly anticipating.
“We’ve been working so hard for the past six months, so this was very satisfying,” Jordon concluded of Sarno. “I was really sensible in the races and used my head, and my mechanic was very happy with the way I drove – and as long as the team is happy, I’m happy. It was admittedly a bit of a letdown not to get a podium, but we finished the Euro Series on a high and I was pleased to have been able to prove myself – I’ve not really been able to do that too much this year with all the bad luck we’ve had.
“I’m really looking forward to the World Series, especially Sharm El Sheikh from what I’ve heard about it, because it sounds like a really good drivers’ track. I just need to remain sensible every time, and let’s hope we have a lot more luck than we generally had in Europe because we want to try and go for the championship. Hopefully there will be no stopping us!”
