Jonathan Summerton Barcelona race notes

Jonathan, starting the weekend off in the new Volkswagen engine car in what has been described as the most competitive series in the world, the Formula3 Euro Series, was ready to go, with high hopes of being in the top 10. Problems occurred in free ...

Jonathan, starting the weekend off in the new Volkswagen engine car in what has been described as the most competitive series in the world, the Formula3 Euro Series, was ready to go, with high hopes of being in the top 10. Problems occurred in free practice with suspension and gearbox problems. The gearbox problem caused Jonathan to lose 45 minutes of valuable testing time in the hour practice. This caused the team to scramble to rebuild the box. Qualifying was over, albeit 7 minutes, when they finished the rebuild. This gave Jonathan just three hot laps to prove he has the speed. He rose to the challenge placing his car within 9 tenths of a second off the fastest. On his final hot lap he was again thwarted by a red flag leaving him with 23rd on the grid.

It was a frantic start in the first race as the start was delayed due to rain as the drivers sat at their grid positions. "We changed the tires to wets and altered a little on the set up which time permitted and were off", said Jonathan. "I had a good start and within 10 laps was up to 11th from 22nd. Then, in an overtaking maneuver, I was pushed into the curb causing me to spin and thus loose 10 places." Jonathan was able to work his way back through the field with 15 laps remaining finishing 16th. "I am disappointed with the result and know if I hadn't been pushed off would have been in the top 8."

Jonathan set the 3rd fastest lap of the race proving that he, together with the VW engine and RC Motorsports car can run just as fast as the front runners.

In Race 2 Jonathan had a great start and was rocketing towards the front of the field when he was sandwiched between 2 cars and hit from behind. Jonathan's race was over before he even crossed the start line. I am really unhappy with the way some drivers handled the situation. I was clearly in and they just decided to hit me from all angles. I feel we had a car that could have run in the top 10 easy. Because of a driver being to stuborn to let one car by instead of ending 6 people's races.

In Nagaro next week we will have another opportunity to show the world that VW can be the leader in F3 Euro Series.