GP3: Alex Lynn wins title

Alex Lynn

Alex Lynn won the GP3 Championship with the opening shots of the final weekend in Abu Dhabi when his lone rival failed to take pole and therefore could not keep his challenge going. The lingering tension over a few points at the last round threatened to distort the reality that Lynn's early season domination of the feature races had set him on a clear path to the championship from the beginning of the year.

In fact it was even earlier than that as the 21-year-old Red Bull Junior explained. "It started with the Estoril preseason test when we were P1. I hoped we could change the game, that was the plan and I think it worked. In the past it has taken teams and drivers a while to get things sorted out and the winner has a made a late charge. This is the first year that the championship has been won like this I am the first guy ever to lead from first qualifying to the last race."

Hard work paid off
"I think that the way that we worked so hard to be consistently competitive and never really gave the others the chance to get any significant edge over us that was special, that was what paid off in the championship. There were others that had good runs at various times and were threats to us but none could keep it going every weekend," asserted the Briton.

A lot of great moments
"It has been such a fantastic season," enthused Lynn. "The Carlin guys have all be so great to work with that even the hard work and difficult moments haven't been that tough to get through and there have been so many highs. One of the best was of course the win at Red Bull Ring, a capacity crowd going wild on the in lap. That was something special to see, really considering that they were there to watch the GP and we are a lesser championship. To do that in a Red Bull car at our home circuit, very special."

"Then there is Spa, an iconic Grand Prix track that everyone feels special about and the typical weather over the weekend that made it a totally classic occasion," Lynn explained clearly reliving some exceptional moments. "To win Race 2 after such an intense battle with Richie (Stanaway) was something I shall never forget," asserted Lynn recalling the brilliant drive from the reverse grid pole after the fickle weather forced a tire change and a start from the pit lane in Race 1.

The team title as well
Lynn's individual title was hardly in doubt but coming to Abu Dhabi, Carlin were in a tight fight with ART for the team's award. Lynn was well aware of what was at stake. "Basically in free practice we were really comfortable, we were quickest so we went into qualifying quite confident."

"The track had changed after the F1 session though and it didn't fall our way. We lost some front end bite and it was enough to make it hard going. In truth we were not fast enough for pole but the way things worked out Dean (Stoneman) didn't get it either so the individual title was ours."

Hard to pass
"In Race 1 I made a good start but my team mate (Emil Bernstorff) and I kind of tripped over each other and Zamparelli got past. It is the nature of the circuit that I couldn't do much about it and so finished fifth."

"The team's championship was close and we really wanted to make it a grand slam so the last race was all important. I made a good start and quickly got up to third. I wanted to get past Yelloly, the pace was better than yesterday but I couldn't get through and in the end the tires just screamed enough. By then I knew that the ART cars were not in it and we were pretty relaxed about the team situation," concluded the GP3 champion.