Alex Lynn claimed two more podium finishes in the second round of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship on home ground at Silverstone, as well as a storming drive in the other race that saw him scorch through from outside the top 20 into sixth place.
The 19-year-old Englishman, who claimed fastest lap on a recovery drive in which he made up 17 places thanks to some dramatic overtaking, has moved up to fourth place in the championship as a result.
Lynn, who won at Silverstone in British F3 last season, as well as during his title-winning Formula Renault UK campaign in 2011, had high hopes for success with his Mercedes-powered Prema Powerteam Dallara.
The set-up wasnt quite right in first qualifying, in which he took second place on the grid for race one and fourth for race two. Rain before the second qualifying session meant he started on wet-weather Hankook tyres, but an inspired switch to slick tyres enabled him to grab pole position from similarly slick-tyred team-mate Raffaele Marciello, the championship leader, by the staggering margin of 0.847 seconds.
I pitted halfway through the session, and when I made the call it was still damp in the final sector, he said. It was a tough one. I was pointing towards the pit-entry, thinking, Do I? Dont I? Once onto slicks I just took more risks in the wetter parts than Raffaele, who was just ahead of me on track. I was on the cusp of going off every single time!
I was a bit disappointed with first qualifying. The car was a bit hard to drive consistently but at least I put it in a good position to score strong points.
Although Alex lost a place at the start of race one, he soon passed Felix Rosenqvist for second and from then on it was a gripping battle as he chased leader Harry Tincknell all the way to the chequered flag.
The gap was never more than a second, except for one lap when he pushed too hard at Becketts and lost time, but he recovered to pressurise Tincknell once again.
I had the very wet side of the grid and that allowed Felix to get past, he said. The car was really strong though and I got up to second. It was 20 times better than yesterday, which enabled me to follow Harry really closely, but he drove a very strong race and didnt make any mistakes. Its a good result, but always disappointing to be so close to victory and not quite there.
In the second race, Lynn was pushed off the track at the first corner and spun almost to last in the field, but then began a charge through the order. Despite electing to use his older set of tyres in this race, he claimed fastest lap and claimed sixth on the final lap when he swept around the outside of Josh Hill at Stowe Corner.
My start wasnt so greatI was on the damp side again! said Alex. Then I got driven off the track. But to come from PNowhere to P6 was really good. I really had to think about it and drew a lot on my experience from my win last year, when I went from P4 to win.
The final race saw Lynn beaten off the line by Rosenqvist, and he dropped to third when Marciello got by at a safety-car restart. He then consolidated the position to take a comfortable podium finish.
Im a little disappointed, said Lynn, who is a member of the MSAs Team UK and the British Racing Drivers Clubs SuperStars programme. It was an average start, not a great restart and to be fair I didnt have the pace of the two at the front.
The next round is the first of the DTM support events, at the German Grand Prix circuit of Hockenheim on May 4th and 5th. Points-wise weve had a strong weekend at Silverstone, said Alex. Theres a long way to go and now I need to concentrate on scoring heavier points. And now were going to circuits that are traditional for European F3, so theyll be where Prema will be at their strongest. My goal is to make the best possible use of that.
