2012  International & Single Seater News News of WRDA members who are competing in the International & Single Seater arena.

Jones overcomes practice problems to score at Long Beach

 WRDA member, Alex Jones, finished his debut race weekend in Long Beach in 14th place and put his first Championship points on the board. In the run up to the weekend Alex had known he was taking on a daunting task to make his first appearance in the Indy Lights series at possibly the most demanding venue of the Championship.
Driving for Brooks Associate Racing, the first practice session on Friday was cut short by heavy rain. This lost the team valuable set up time - not having raced at the circuit previously there was no historical data to work from so the loss of time and the wet conditions were a real setback. As the weekend wore on it was to prove even more challenging than Alex had first thought! On Saturday the challenges mounted with the loss of more practice due to mechanical failure. This meant Alex would go into qualifying with only two full laps of the circuit under his belt. "Just going to have to see what I can pull out of the bag!" was his undeterred response.
Alex's pace during qualifying was impressive, at one point running as high as 6th. However, a problem put him out of the second part of qualifying. With the rest of the field putting their best lap times in at the end of the session Alex had to watch his place tumble to 14th. "I was pleased with my performance in qualifying, given no prior running" said Alex "top 10 was clearly possible and it gave me real encouragement for the race." On Sunday morning and in the pre-race warm up Alex found some good speed, moving him up the field and putting him in confident mood for the race. Starting from the back of the grid he was running strongly and overtaking confidently but a small error on the bumpy circuit halted his progress and ended his race just over half way through.
Alex summed up: "There are a lot of positives to take out of this weekend. As a rookie team we all worked really well and we have all learned and gained valuable experience. Its all about building for the future".
This was an impressive first outing for a rookie, with just one small error.  There is no doubt he will be improving and progressing throughout the season.

From Long Beach the team headed to Fontana for a 1 day test at the oval track to start preparation for the Freedom 100 in Indianapolis, the next event on the schedule on May 25.  Now back at home in Anglsey, Alex summed up, " I had a good day testing on the Oval at Fontana. On the 1st day back in UK I was mega jet lagged. I managed to squeeze a nice cycle in the morning. My body is still really messed up though- can't work out if I am starving or stuffed!"

Alex's deal results from a lot of hard work by his family and management team after testing at Barber showed how much potential he has, despite having far less track time compared to his rivals.  Alex’s management team will continue  working hard to secure his full time return to the cockpit and are seeking partners to ensure this becomes a reality.  “We are looking for new business partners to safeguard the drive and provide continuity of support for the remainder of 2012 and beyond to ensure Alex can go on and develop the talent he has clearly demonstrated” said his manager.   Anyone interested should contact ajmanagement@alexjonesracing.com

 Note:  Indy Lights is the prestigious feeder series to Indy Car – the premier series in the US. 

Live Timing http://admin.indycar.com/drivers/56-firestone-indy-lights   You'll find the Live timing link at the bottom of the page under "Interact" menu

 LINKS  

www.alexjonesracing.com  Twitter feed @AlexJonesRacing

2012 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach  http://www.gplb.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_Indy_Lights

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Indy_Lights_season