Euro F3000

[flyingduck]

I'm a new Zealander and Jonny reid won a round of this series I was wondering what sort of level competition this is. In New Zealand we have no coverage of it so I have seen none of it and don't know what the other drivers are like or if a major feet to win

[Mr Jinxx]

I could be accused of being partisan, but apart from Alex Lloyd (Jonny's team mate), who is arguably the best driver on the planet, I reckon Jonny Reid is perhaps the quickest driver in the series, and he has a good car and team with JVA.

There ARE other good drivers in the series (the Italian F3 champion, for example) but I have a feeling that most of the other quick ones are quick mainly because they have been in the series for a couple of years, whereas Jonny is in his 1st year, straight from F4000, and is still learning.

He is very good, and I think you'll see him get even better from now on, having got a team mate to share data with (he was on his own for the first part of the year) and following his race win, where he drove both quickly and maturely.

[sceptic]

...and just to add that although Jonny is experienced with a car that powerful, the races are much longer than he is used to, so it may have taken him a while to build the stamina.

[foreversideways]

Jonny is obviously a young guy with talent a long way from home making his way in European motor sport and Sundays result was the culmination of a lot of hard work over the past few months. As a supporter of Alex i would have loved him to take the win however it was still great to see JVA do it with Jonny. I think they are good teammates and you could not wish to meet a nicer guy than Jonny. Lets hope they can all carry on till the end of the season and beyond perhaps.

[Mr Jinxx]

I think Jonny did struggle initially with the extra stamina/fitness bit required in these cars. What is the race structure in the Holden F4000? They are big powerful cars too - are the races much shorter? In Euro F3000, the races are 150km, so at a quick track like Spa, say, they only last about 45 mins, whereas at shorter twistier circuits, they can go over an hour

[flyingduck]

So if you won this series where would you be looking at going to next year? GP2 maybe

[Mr Jinxx]

If you think you have "mastered" the series, rather than have won it, and you have the all-important funding, then yes, GP2 or the new Superfund series is the obvious choice

[flyingduck]

Even if you don't master a series and can still win it what benefit would you take from staying in it. It would mean if you had some problems the next season and didn't win you have gone backwards from your previous position to move up. Motorsport is not about being the fastest or anything else it's all about standing on top of the podium we could all talk about drivers who were lightining quick but didn't win much because of crashes or mechanical problems and most of these drivers go no where

[Kicking-back]

You're unlikely to win it without "mastering it"!

[Mr Jinxx]

"Mastering" it is right. You can master a series without having the best equipment. You may not stand on top of the podium, a la Senna in the uncompetitive McLaren years, but you can tell when someone is on top of his game. If you win, then you've mastered it, sure, but you can still have mastered it without coming out on the top step. Button was 3rd in his one year in F3. Davidson was 2nd. But they'd both mastered F3.