Team West-Tec's Jonathan Legris was lucky to be able to drive at all in Albacete at the weekend, but shrugged off a hospital visit to examine a damaged shoulder and cut head to take another 'against the odds' result in the latest Spanish F3 double-header.
Albacete, situated on the Spanish plain nearly 200km away from the coast, is probably the track least suited to the eight-year old Dallara F300 that the Briton runs, and testing saw him down in tenth place in the Copa de Espana class, and 20th overall as he got to grips with another unfamiliar venue and the stifling 40-degree heat that came with the track's location.
Although he improved a little in qualifying, placing his car 17th on the 26-car grid, a mediocre start to race one saw Legris drop back initially before making astounding progress to move up to eleventh by the end of lap two. From there, forward momentum proved a little harder to come by as, despite being lodged firmly under team-mate Christian Ebbesvik's gearbox, he was unable to make another pass and had to settle for a retirement-induced gain to claim a top ten finish. Crucially, however, that equated to fourth in class for Legris as he maintained pressure on those at the top end of the Copa points table.
Clearly determined to do better in Sunday's second race, Legris made a scintillating start to pass several cars on the opening lap and come around in sixth place, ahead of the dominant race one winner, German Sanchez, who was unable to pass thereafter.
Driving beautifully consistently, and aware that any mistake would allow the newer cars to use their advantages and pass him, Legris doggedly held his position and even managed to close up on those ahead on the final tours, passing Celso Miguez's F308 to finish fifth overall and take yet another podium finish in the Copa class, where he placed third.
"Albacete does not suit the my older car, so we aimed for damage limitation in the championships this weekend," the Briton admitted, "I was pleased to finish where we did.
