Lincoln Minster School pupil victorious at Silverstone
11 July 2010
Lincolnshire race ace Jack continued his successful 2010 season as he took victory at his home event in front of over 100,000 British Grand Prix fans at Silverstone, a result he called the “best of his career” so far.
The 17 year-old Racing Steps Foundation-supported racer is a pupil at Lincoln Minster School, an independent school which is a member of the United Church Schools Trust (UCST). Jack went into his home meeting off the back of double victory in the previous rounds in Valencia in Spain. He was determined to try and repeat his success and extend his lead in the Formula BMW Europe Series on home soil. He got off to a good start with second and third on the grid for the two races.
As the lights went out at the start of the first race on Saturday afternoon Jack got an excellent start to lead into the first corner. A cool, calm and measured drive allowed him to maintain the lead for the entire race, after soaking up early pressure from his main championship rival in the opening laps before pulling away before the chequered flag. Jack took a leisurely slowing down lap to savour the moment of winning at his home circuit and to celebrate in front of the huge Grand Prix crowd.
In the second race on Sunday Jack again got a good start, but was unable to get past his two rivals. At the half-way point in the race he ran wide over one of the high Silverstone kerbs and damaged his rear floor, losing a lot of rear-end grip and blunting his charge for another victory. However, a determined drive allowed him to consolidate third place and extend his lead in the series in the process.
“I'm really, really pleased with the whole weekend,” said Jack. “I came here with the intention to go for victory again and to extend the lead in the championship and that is exactly what we achieved. To win in front of the British Grand Prix fans at your home event is just amazing. It's definitely the best victory of my career so far.
“I've won the first race at every round so far and I've only had one meeting where I haven't finished on the podium this year. Five wins out of eight races has been a fantastic start to the season. We're going to carry on and do the best we can at every event and see where we finish at the end of the year.”
Jack will next be on track at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in two weeks time.
