21 April 2014
Jon Barnes made a successful return to the Caterham Superlight R300 Championship at Snetterton this weekend. Driving the Caterham guest car, he was able to net a double podium finish on his first official Caterham race weekend for 5 years.
Jon was not able to test the car prior to the race weekend, so with just a basic car setup on his R300 he was 6th after the 20 minute Saturday morning Qualifying session.
After qualifying, with help from Mick Attree, Jon was able to improve the car somewhat so that he could make progress during the two 30 minute races.
Saturday afternoon’s race got off to a great start for Jon, with a fast start allowing him to climb into the top 4 by the first corner. Then a daring move around the outside of the turn 2 hairpin allowed Jon up into second position. Over the next few laps the race leader, Danny Winstanley, was able to open a gap over Jon and the other drivers that were battling over second position. By half distance Danny had an unassailable lead and the fight for second position was still going on between Jon, David Robinson and Mike Robinson. Jon was able to fight off the challenges from the other drivers to come home in a well deserved second position. Jon’s race fastest lap was quicker than he had gone in qualifying, which was a testiment to the improvements made to the car prior to the race.
Jon’s finishing position in race 1 allowed him to start Sunday morning’s race from the front row of the grid, and another good start meant that Jon stuck with Danny Winstanley over the first two laps of the race. Beginning lap 3 though Danny began to start easing away from Jon and David Robinson who were at the front of the chasing pack. With the chasing pack again beginning to battle amongst themselves and with Aaron Head charging through the field too, Danny slipped away again, leaving the rest fighting over second and third positions, as they did in race 1. Towards the end of the race Danny Winstanley had a lead of over 5 seconds, from Aaron Head in second position and another 5 seconds back was Jon and David Robinson. Going into the final corner of the final lap, Jon was in fourth position having been overtaken by David Robinson down the Bentley Straight. Determined to claim the final spot on the podium, Jon got as close to David’s R300 as possible around Coram and he then pulled off an audacious late braking manouevre up the inside. Both drivers scrabbled to get on the power on the corner exit, but Jon had enough traction to keep hold of the position as the drivers crossed the finishline.
An exciting end to a fun weekend, which was rewarded with another trophy, champagne and easter eggs!
Jon said “This has been a really good weekend! I had some fantastic battles in both races, the driving standards were great and there was no contact whatsoever, which considering how close and hard we were racing, is an achievement in itself. This weekend brought back some fantastic memories of what it was like when I raced in Caterham’s top championship 10 years ago! I’d like to say a big thanks to everyone at Caterham that has been involved in getting me out racing this weekend. Hopefully I will get some more opportunities to race again this season."
Television coverage of the races will be on Motors TV. The exact TV schedule is:
Motors TV UK (Sky channel 447, Virgin Media channel 545, Freeview channel 240)
27/04/14 - 16.20
28/04/14 - 07.20
29/04/14 - 10.05
30/04/14 - 18.55
01/05/14 - 01.15
03/05/14 - 06.00
Motors TV Europe
27/04/14 - 17.09
28/04/14 - 00.41
28/04/14 - 08.17
29/04/14 - 10.53
30/04/14 - 19.56
01/05/14 - 02.48
07/05/14 - 03.14
For more information visit Jon's website at www.jonbarnes.com, or you can like him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.
ENDS