Jon Lancaster had an amazing debut weekend in Auto GP. He arrived in Brno with just two days of testing in the car, an experience dating back to six months ago in Barcelona, but despite this he was immediately on the pace: 2nd in the first Free Practice session, Jon then was fifth in Qualifying but just 2 tenths adrift from pole position. A staggering performance that was confirmed in Race 1 when Lancaster emerged as the quickest of the pack: after losing a lot of time to avoid the cars involved in the Turn 2 crash, Jon closed a huge gap on his rivals, posted the fastest lap of the race and finished in P4, just inches from the podium. Here are his feelings after the Czech weekend:
“I believe that I can be really happy of my first race weekend in Auto GP, especially if you consider that prior to this race I had just 5 days in a racing car from October, and that just two of those were in this car. I had some ‘rust’ to remove, but despite this I managed to find an immediate feeling with the Lola and with the SuperNova staff: in Qualifying I could have been on pole or at least on the 1st row but I did a little mistake, and in Race 1 I was quicker than Filippi. Luca is a good benchmark because he is fast and has a great knowledge of this car, so being already quicker than him gives me confidence. Besides this, it’s also worth noticing that with some more luck my results could have been even better”.
Without being slowed down by the crash you could have made a better use of your amazing pace…
“In motor racing often being in the right spot at the right time is just as important as being quick. In Lap 1 I was exactly in the opposite situation, wrong spot at the wrong time, and to avoid the crash ahead I had to go wide on the grass, losing plenty of time. Anyway I was feeling very confident with the car and I pushed as hard as I could, closing the gap quickly. When I arrived on Ceccon’s tail my tyres were suffering a bit, and the loss of aerodynamic grip that you always have when you are close to another car made things even trickier. I was quicker than the guys in front anyway, but not enough to overtake them on a track like Brno”.
In less than one month Auto GP will race in Donington: what’s your feeling looking to your home race?
“Racing on home soil is always special, and I have to say that I love Donington. Last time I raced there it was in 2007 with F.Renault 2.0 and I got pole and a race win. Obviously Auto GP is a completely different beast but I understood the car, I know how to make the most of it so I’m confident that I will be a challenger for the win out there”.
You’re just 22 but you already have a broad racing experience: how does Auto GP compares with the other cars you’ve driven before?
“Well I already loved the car in Barcelona, but in Brno I liked it even more. It has loads of power, you can drive it with the throttle and furthermore you have a lot of grip and some very good braking, really not far from other cars with carbon brakes.
But most importantly, you can feel what the car is doing, you get a really good feedback and you can drive it as you want. With other cars I’ve driven before you always have cope with some peculiarity of the car, adapt yourself to them if you want to get out the best from the machine. With Auto GP this is not the case, the car always behaves as I want, and that makes a huge difference when you’re driving on the limit”.
