Jessica Edgar enjoyed two fourth place finishes in F1 Academy at the weekend (June 23-25), scoring her best result since the opening race of the season after hard work by the 18-year-old and her Rodin Carlin team paid off.
After two tough meetings in May, the Cumbria-based racer bounced back in style, vaulting from 11th in FP1 to second fastest in FP2. She carried that form over into qualifying where, despite red flags in both sessions, she finished sixth and fifth, though was disappointed not to be closer to pole.
The opening 17-lap contest started behind the Safety Car, with Jessica making a great move on Emely de Heus into turn one on the second lap, running fifth, which became fourth as she closed in on the podium positions. Getting a great run off the final, banked corner onto the pit straight, she forced Nerea Martí on the defensive, getting alongside, but unable to make the move stick, eventually crossing the line fourth.
Lining up third for race two, the teenager didn’t have her best start, slipping back to fifth as she was squeezed between two cars at turn one. She regained one of those places when the leader went off, bringing out a Safety Car, with another pass on de Heus on the restart to move into third. Unfortunately, Léna Bühler then made a similar move on Jessica, who finished a strong fourth once again.
Slipping back one spot to sixth off the line in race three, she quickly regained fifth and was hot on the tail of the car in fourth, before a small error meant she ran off track and fell down to 12th, outside the points.
However, despite that setback, two finishes at the sharp end of the field and showing her ability to challenge for the podium positions demonstrates Jessica has the pace to compete, leaving the youngster in a positive mindset looking ahead to the next round at Monza over the weekend of July 7-9.
Jess Commented,“This weekend was really positive. It was good to get sixth and fifth in qualifying, though we had a red flag in both sessions which was a shame as I think I could have improved a little bit more.
“We started race one under the Safety Car and I managed to get two places to finish fourth and though I didn’t have the best start to race two, it was a busy one on track and I managed to get back into fourth, so those two results were good for me and the team.
“I was maintaining fifth place in race three, but unfortunately, a mistake from me in the last few laps meant I came off the track and finished 12th. However, the team and I have made big steps forward since Barcelona and there are a lot of positives that we can take away from this weekend, so I am really looking forward to the next round at Monza!”
