Alex Lynn took victory during the latest round of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship at Vallelunga, near Rome.
The 20-year-old British rising star swept home in dominant fashion in the second race of the weekend to take his third win of the season, and added third and fourth positions in the other two races to net himself a healthy points score.
The results put Lynn in prime position to wrap up third in the championship in next weekend’s final round at Hockenheim, an achievement that would mean he finishes as the highest-placed series rookie.
Alex was fastest in the slippery conditions of free practice, before earning himself a pole position, a third and a fifth on the grid for the three races in his Mercedes-powered Prema Powerteam Dallara.
“I was actually a bit disappointed not to do better,” he said. “The car felt really good but a red flag caught me out and I had to abort that quick lap. Then I pushed a bit but the traffic didn’t work out for me. On my pole lap I even went off the track at one corner – it wasn’t the cleanest lap I’ve ever driven and pole proves how fast the car is.”
From third on the grid, Lynn briefly drew level with polesitting Prema team-mate Raffaele Marciello and Alexander Sims on the run to the first corner, but could not find a way through and settled into third place. He chased Sims home in a close third as the top three held station throughout the race.
“The first lap was pretty eventful,” he said. “We were three-wide at two different places! Pace-wise the car was good at the start, but the rear tyres started to fade a little bit. I had a good gap to Daniil Kvyat behind me so it wasn’t the end of the world.”
In the second race, Alex instantly extended a 1.3-second cushion to Sims on the opening lap. A safety car eroded his lead, before he cruised into an enormous six-second lead at the restart. Then the safety car appeared once again and Lynn had to do it all over again, but he established a five-second cushion to head home a British one-two.
“If only races were like that all the time!” he said. “It reminded me of my Formula Renault UK Championship-winning season in 2011.
“Our pace was really, really strong. I expected to be fast compared to the other guys but not that fast. We changed quite a few things overnight and the car balance came to us. I want to say a big thankyou to the guys at Prema.”
If that race was calm, the third was most certainly not… Despite having already used his allocation of fresh tyres for the weekend, Lynn got involved in an enormous fight for third position with Sims and Felix Serralles. It ended with light contact between Alex and Serralles, allowing Sims through into third. But Lynn emerged virtually unscathed and was able to take a strong fourth position.
“That was good fun,” he said. “I made a good move on Alexander, then caught Felix really quickly and overtook him at the first attempt. But then he got me back with a clever move around the outside while I was trying to defend.
“After that he kind of half closed the door, and I was really lucky that I only got a badly worn wheelrim and tyre from the collision.”
Alex now heads into the final round at Hockenheim looking for a good finish to the European season. “It’s been a successful weekend at Vallelunga,” said Lynn, who is a member of the MSA’s Team UK and the British Racing Drivers Club’s SuperStars programme.
“Third in the championship looks pretty likely barring a disaster, so I’ve got to be pleased with that, but of course I’ll be going for another win or two to finish off the season and put me in a roll for the Macau Grand Prix in November.”
