Motorsport news, podium and top five hat-trick for Alex Lynn
Three more strong results from Alex Lynn enabled him to leave the latest round of the British Formula 3 International Series at Snetterton with his head held high and comfortably among the leading five in the championship table.
On his local circuit, the 18-year-old scored a fine third place in treacherously tricky wet conditions on Saturday, then followed that with a fighting fifth in the dry reversed-grid race from a starting position of 10th. He finished fourth in the finale as the rain returned again.
Lynn was on the pace from the moment the teams arrived at Snetterton, topping Fridays test sessions in his Mercedes-powered Fortec Motorsport Dallara and then taking third on the grid for both races, just a tenth of a second off pole position.
I was just on the wrong end of that tenth of a second! he said. I should have been on for a lap that maybe would have got me pole, but I locked up in the last corner on my first flying lap on my second set of tyres. Because of the track conditions in that session, the tyres had a very small peak of only two laps; its such a long lap at Snetterton that its very easy to make the tiniest mistake and that costs you.
But the car feels much better than last time out at Spa. Its a lot more to my liking with my driving style and thats helping me quite a lot.
Alex managed to keep his third place as the field slithered into the first corner of the race. From then on it was a case of trying to stay on track as conditions gradually worsened, the race eventually being halted when a torrential storm struck.
It was just a job to keep it on the track, he said. At the start I was trying to stay close to Felix Serralles ahead of me, and I could see cars going off behind me in my mirror. I was never quite close enough to make a move on Felix. One lap hed get it right, then Id find a new line in the wetit was just cat and mouse. But its good points again for me.
With the top 12 from race one reversed for the grid for race two, Lynn found himself with a lot of work to do from the fifth row. He quickly got up to eighth on the first lap, moved into seventh when a car in front was given a penalty, then passed Geoff Uhrhane for sixth in a brave move around the outside of the Agostini left-hander. On the penultimate lap he made it up to fifth for more strong points.
That was pretty good, starting from 10th, he summed up. Adderly Fong in his older National Class car was holding us all up for a while and it was tough to race. And when I tried to make a move on Jack Harvey in front I then had to quickly get back and defend from Felix. I think we were quick, but once I got up to fifth the race had pretty much settled down.
In the final race, the leading cars on Alexs side of the grid all struggled with grip off the line and lost places, but he maintained fourth.From then on it was a case of consolidating his position for 21 long laps of the soaking Snetterton circuit.
My start wasnt that good, and I didnt seem to have quite enough pace when it mattered, said Lynn, who is a member of the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy, the MSAs Team UK and the British Racing Drivers Clubs SuperStars programme. Jack Harvey was pulling away from me, but importantly I was able to pull away from Jazeman Jaafar, whos third in the championship so is definitely a target for me.
I was really looking for my first British F3 win this weekend, but third, fourth and fifth are good points. Now I just need to push as hard as I can for the last two rounds at Silverstone and Donington and see where that gets me.
There is now a long gap until the penultimate race weekend, at the British Grand Prix circuit of Silverstone, on September 8/9, although in the meantime Alex and the Fortec team will be testing more developments at Pembrey in Wales.
