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2009 International News | |
Jones scores at Silverstone
WRDA member Alex Jones was in action at Silverstone on 15/15 August, with Alex grabbing some useful points in the first of the weekends MSA Formula Ford Championship of Britain races, after running as high as 3rd place in race 1 (lets hope they show it this time)MSA British Formula Ford Championship Silverstone 15th/16th August Report
Arriving at Silverstone with high hopes of bagging some top results, Alex realised it was
not gong to be an easy task to build on his podium success at Donington given the general
pace at Friday's test day. He knew he would have to work hard for a decent qualifying
position on Saturday morning and was not too disappointed at achieving 7th & 6th
places respectively on the grid for Races 1 & 2. In Saturdays race, a great start
propelled him up to 3rd position before the end of Lap 1. But with handling/tyre issues he
was having to drive hard to maintain position. For a while things seemed to go his way
with a lengthy deployment of the safety car as a result of two separate incidents. When
the safety car pulled in there was just seven minutes remaining, but with the field closed
up, Alex slipped to 4th. In the penultimate lap contact with another driver saw him lose
another couple of places to finish in 6th place.
In Sundays Race 2, a flying start saw Alex take off from 6th on the grid
and into 5th place before the end of Lap 1. Still struggling with the handling/tyre issues
he was unable to maintain or defend his position and slipped a couple of places to 7th
where he hung on for the most part of the race. On Lap 9 he lost place to Rogier de Wit,
and although he fought back valiantly & regained position, he eventually had to settle
for an 8th place finish.
In race 3, another excellent start was ruined when Alex was hit from behind on the first lap spinning him out of position and resulting in damage to the gear box. This damage eventually forced him to retire on Lap 7, but not before an inspired drive that saw him not only catch up from a long way back, but start making progress through the field.
After the race a philosophical Alex commented "The Team worked hard to overcome
the problems we had in testing and give me the best they could for the three races, but it
just didn't happen for me this weekend. The changes made for Race 3 felt good and the car
was coming on each lap but the collision and damaged gear box prevented me from getting
the advantage out of them."
The final races in the season are at Brands Hatch on September 5th & 6th
with the DTM, and then again at Brands Hatch on September 19th & 20th
with the Formula 3 Championship, with the final as Castle Combe on the 3rd
October.
http://www.britishformulaford.co.uk/
http://www.alexjonesracing.com/
Results http://www.tsl-timing.com
Meanwhile in Cooper Tyres British F3 International Championship Hywel narrowly missed out on the points after some encouaging qualifing performances
Hywels new site http://www.f3racing.co.uk/