(Motorsport News) Sunday, 5th August 2012
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| Jazeman Jaafar's podium in stunning second race |
Tenth podium of the season for Jazeman Jaafar in
British F3
Jazeman Jaafar secured his tenth
podium of the 2012 British F3 International Series at Snetterton, Norfolk, this
weekend. In the first race torrential rain forced a red flag stoppage with
Jazeman finishing seventh. The second race produced a second place podium for
the young Malaysian and with more rain affecting the third race, Jaafar finished
in fifth place. His strong points finish kept him in the Drivers’ Championship
title hunt, with Jaafar maintaining third position.
The early weekend practice sessions were an opportunity for Jaafar to
develop the car set up for the races ahead and he worked with his engineer to
plan their strategy. With a pace which placed him fourth overall after these
sessions Jaafar was ready to do battle on track once again.
The qualifying session proved very competitive as always and Jaafar
produced laps to put him fourth on the grid for the first race and sixth for the
third race, with the semi-reversed grid placings for the second race set to be
taken from the results of the opening race.
The first race, held on Saturday afternoon, started on a wet track after an
earlier torrential rainstorm. Jaafar had a flying start off the grid to be lying
second in the second corner, but his hopes of a podium finish were instantly
wiped out when rival, Harry Tincknell, slid into him, spinning him round and
dropping him to 11th position at the end of lap one. Jaafar, never one to give
up on a points finish, was quickly hunting down the drivers ahead, picking them
off lap by lap to lie in seventh place when another heavy rainstorm brought the
race to an abrupt, premature end.
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| Jazeman was quick from the start |
The PETRONAS Talent Programme driver started Sunday morning’s race in sixth
place and had another strong start to lie third after the first lap and then
making a move on Richard Goddard to claim second position, behind Carlin team
mate Harry Tincknell. Once past Goddard Jaafar turned a series of quick laps to
close up on Tincknell, posting fastest lap of the race, and an extra
championship point, on route to his podium finish.
The final race of the weekend started
after another storm and with a rain-soaked track visibility was poor and
opportunities for overtaking very limited. Jaafar drove a strong race from sixth
place to finish fifth at the chequered flag, claiming more championship points
to keep him in third place overall in the championship.
Jaafar summed up his weekend saying, “I was very disappointed with the
outcome of the first race as I’d had such a good start and had my eye on a
podium, but it didn’t work out that way. It was a shame the rain stopped the
race, but it was the right call as the track was just becoming a river and too
dangerous. Taking the podium in the second race was very important as I couldn’t
afford to lose out on any more points and I was pleased to bounce back with that
finish. The third race was another solid points finish and these three finishes
have keep me in the hunt for the title.
Of his title chances he says, “There are only six more races so I’ll be
fighting to the last breath and going all out to get the best finishes I can. I
have a few weeks until the next British F3 race weekend, so I’ll be doing
another F3 Euro Series round to keep on racing.”
Jaafar, as an elite athlete, has been following the fortunes of his home
nation’s competitors in the Olympics and was delighted for the Malaysian success
in Badminton. He says, “Many congratulations to Dato' Lee Chong Wei on his silver medal today, a great
effort and a proud day for Malaysia.”
Jaafar’s next race weekend will be
18-19th August at Nurburgring, Germany in the F3 Euro Series.
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