Alex Lynn finished his rookie season in the British Formula 3 International Series in style with a storming second place in the final round of the season at Donington Park.
Lynn, 19, finished right in the wheeltracks of newly-crowned champion Jack Harvey as the late-afternoon light faded in a gripping race. He put the pressure on all the way, passing Harvey for the lead at the Melbourne hairpin on the 11th lap in a dramatic move before running wide and being forced back to second. But he never gave up, netting fastest lap of the race for the second time over the weekend, and taking his second podium of the meeting in his Mercedes-powered Fortec Motorsport Dallara.
Englishman Lynn qualified second fastest for the Sunday race, while he claimed fourth on the grid for the opening race on Saturday. Im pleased to be on the front row, he said, but disappointed because the car was really good and I felt I could have had pole. Unfortunately, on the lap after my best lap I ran wide and damaged the floor of the car.
Id been in a really good rhythm but kept getting held up slightly in the last sector nearly every lap. On this lap I thought it would be a really good one, but with the damage I lost a bit of pace.
Lynn did a great job to pass title-chasing team-mate Felix Serralles for third around the outside of the first corner of race one, and set the fastest lap four laps from home as he chased the other two main title contendersHarvey and Jazeman Jaafarto the finish. But the result finally extinguished Alexs slim mathematical chances of the title.
My pace was really good and Ive got to be happy with getting third from fourth on the grid, he said. I tried to catch Jaafar, but as soon as I got within a small window of him in front it was impossible to keep my front-end grip with the loss of downforce.
That result put him sixth for the start of the reversed-grid race, which did not last long for Lynn. Slight contact with Jaafar exiting the first corner gave Alex a puncture, which was unbeknown to him until he arrived at the ultra-fast Old Hairpin. As he braked the car snapped sideways and collided with Jaafar, putting both men out of the race.
I just felt a little bit of contact on my left, he said. Then going down the Craner Curves I thought it was a bit strange because Jaafar seemed to have immense speed on me. Then as I braked the left-rear compressed, the right-front lifted up and I spun. Its a shame because I didnt want to get involved with affecting anybodys championship battle in that sort of way.
In the third race he put immense pressure on Harvey, while in turn fighting off Jaafar. Alex showed quick thinking to slot back in ahead of Jaafar after running wide in his overtaking bid on Harvey, but was unable to find another chink in the new champions armour.
Its a good result to end the season, 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. But our pace was so good I felt we did deserve another pole and win to back up our success at Silverstone last time out.
Ive got to say well done to Jack. He drove an almost flawless race and he only made one slight mistake, which I tried to punish. He got a little bit of oversteer in the chicane, and then braked early for the next hairpin, which forced me to lock up as I tried to pass. I had to battle the whole of the rest of the race with a massive flat-spotand I wouldnt be surprised if I lose a couple of tooth-fillings tomorrow! I was hounding him all race and pushing for the win.
Its been a great season, and with the team and my own performance Ive learned a vast amount about racing.
Although this is the end of the British F3 season, this is not the finish of the years racing for Alex, who will contest the final round of the FIA European F3 Championship at Hockenheim on October 20-21 before racing in the Macau Grand Prix in November.
