Lewis withdraws from F3 debut.

Ryan Lewis made his Formula Three debut with Team SYR at Donington Park yesterday [Wednesday], but later declined the opportunity to race the squad's Dallara-Mugen.

The Formula Palmer Audi points leader grabbed the chance to test in anticipation of racing at the Leicestershire track this weekend, and enjoyed the experience of driving alongside the likes of Alan van der Merwe, Nelson Piquet Jr and Jamie Green, but, due to the limited running time he had, decided to turn down the chance of a race seat.

With just one hour of F3 action under his belt, Lewis felt that he could not do the team, or himself, justice in the penultimate round of the season, but has accepted another chance to test with Team SYR next week, ahead of a possible debut in the final two races at Brands Hatch on 27-28 September.

"I enjoyed the experience tremendously," Lewis said, "but, with only limited time in the car, I don't feel able to do justice to either the team or myself. Obviously, I'm disappointed not to be racing at Donington but, hopefully, with a proper full day's testing in the car, I'll be in a better position to go into the qualifying and races with more knowledge and experience of driving an F3 car so that I can give the team and myself the results we are capable of.

"It was a very last minute decision to test with the team and, with my other commitments, it meant that there was little time to even get a seat fitting done. I was struggling a bit to feel completely comfortable with the position. Now we have time to get that sorted, and I'm sure that the next test will prove valuable in terms of time and comfort."