A superb weekend for Alex Lynn brought him a race win to top a hat-trick of podium finishes in the latest round of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship at the Norisring.
Lynn won the second race of the weekend and was third in the other two. The victory was his second in the European championship, and his podium strike rate represented the first time he has finished in the top three in all races at one race weekend in the series.
The 19-year-old Englishman was one of the pacesetters throughout the event, held on the tricky streets of Nuremberg. It is a track he had only raced at once before and he was not convinced that he would be as strong as at other venues.
But Alex qualified his Mercedes-powered Prema Powerteam Dallara fourth, second and third for the two races. Incredibly, his fourth position on the grid for race one was just seven thousandths of a second from pole position in an unprecedentedly close session.
Its amazing, he said. Thats unbelievably close. Our pace looks good and Im close enough to pole for all three races. I was actually a tenth of a second up in the first sector on one lap in qualifying for races one and two, but I made a mistake and still went faster. That could have been pole, but possibly everybody would say that they lost time somewhere.
In a dramatic first race, Lynn moved up to third at the start and remained as one of the closely bunched top six in a race that featured two safety-car periods.
My start was really good and my car was very fast, he said. I felt I was faster than Felix Rosenqvist in front of me, but it was too much of a risk to try a lunge on him because my team-mate Raffaele Marciello was just in front of him in the lead, so I would have risked T-boning him.
The safety cars hampered the race really, because they kept us all bunched and that meant making a move was much riskier.
In race two, Alex made a terrific start to beat poleman Marciello into the first corner. From then on he built a one-second lead over Rosenqvist, but try as he might he could not stretch it any further, as the leading group set a relentless pace in 30-degree heat. But eventually Rosenqvist had to start defending, and that gave Lynn a useful buffer.
I made a great start to that one, he said. I managed to pass Raffaele into Turn 1. For three quarters of the race I was pushing like crazy to pull away from Felix, and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief when I could see that he was having to deal with Alexander Sims and Raffaele behind him. That gave me a nice cushion for having to cope with the backmarkers towards the end of the race.
It was a really hard race, especially when youre out front leading the way. I wasnt very strong here last year, so Ive come away with a win that I really wasnt expecting. It feels nice!
In the final race, Lynn maintained his third position from the start. After fending off a challenge from his friend and ex-Formula Renault team-mate Tom Blomqvist, he was able to challenge Marciello for second place but could not find a way past the Italian.
I made a strong start and pressured Felix Rosenqvist into Turn 1to get alongside the master of starts of 2013 was quite nice! I had a few problems early in the raceI had a new set of brake pads and I was having to bed them in, but once that was done I was able to try to push my braking zones. Once Felix got past Raffaele into the lead, I could push Raffaele until I made a mistake at the final corner.
I cant complain about my weekendone win and two more podiums is great. Its one of my best weekends so far and points-wise it is the best, no doubt. I felt really complete this weekendfast, competitive, working well with my engineer and three good starts. Big thanks to Mercedes and my teamthey did a fantastic job and helped me out a lot.
Alex, who is a member of the MSAs Team UK and the British Racing Drivers Clubs SuperStars programme, rated his Norising victory as even more satisfying than his maiden European F3 win, which he achieved at Brands Hatch two months ago. I know Brands really well and Ive always been strong there, but to win at the Norisring feels really special. Its an amazing place with a fantastic atmosphere. I beat Raffaele at the start and was able to pull away from Felix. Im very very happy.
The results move Lynn up to third place in the championship, a big confidence boost as the series now heads into a five-week summer break before the next round, which is back in Germany at the Nurburgring on August 16th-18th.
