Jon Lancaster


Jon Francis Lancaster is a British auto racing driver.

Career

Early life and karting

Lancaster was born on 10 December 1988 in Leeds, Yorkshire. He used to watch Formula One from the age of three and always liked the cars. After getting his full karting licence, Lancaster initially competed at Wombwell Kart Circuit in Barnsley, where he won in his sixth ever race in the Cadet class. The first competitive kart he owned was a basic 100 British pounds kit with engines supplied by Jenson Button’s father, John. Lancaster's father was a former racing mechanic and wanted his son to go karting but also attend Horsforth School. Some years later, he was approached by Paul Lemmens, a talent scout. After having a talk with Lemmens, the talent manager Harald Huysman went to England to see Lancaster and was impressed, saying that he had "everything to be the best in the world". In 2006, as a 16-year-old, Lancaster mainly appeared in the Formula A karting category with Italian team Birel, finishing second in the World Championship and third in the European Championship.

Formula Renault 2.0

At the end of 2006, Lancaster moved up to single-seater formula racing, by competing in the Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series with the AKA Lamac team. Lancaster finished sixteenth in the championship, recording a best finish of 8th during round 2 at Brands Hatch.
Image:Jon Lancaster 2007 FRenault Eurocup.jpg|thumb|left|Lancaster driving in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 in 2007.
2007 saw Lancaster move up into the Formula Renault Eurocup driving for SG Formula's second team, SG Drivers Project. Lancaster struggled in the early part of the season, amassing only a second-place finish at the Hungaroring from the first six races, but he improved his form in the last eight races. Four consecutive wins during the last four races gave Lancaster a second place in the championship, behind Brendon Hartley. He dovetailed that European campaign with a season in the French Formula Renault Championship, competing in eleven of the series' thirteen races, finishing sixth with two wins coming at Magny-Cours and Barcelona. After those seasons, he competed for Hitech Racing's Junior team in the Formula Renault UK Winter Series, finishing fourteenth in the championship despite recording a third place at Donington Park in round two.

Formula 3 Euro Series

Lancaster moved up to the Formula 3 Euro Series for the 2008 season, driving for multiple champions ART Grand Prix. It was a testing year for the Yorkshireman, finishing twelfth in the championship including a win at the Nürburgring. The season wasn't without incident though, as Lancaster survived a horrendous crash during the season-opening race at Hockenheim. In a similar crash to that of Lucas di Grassi in 2005, Lancaster clipped the rear wheel of Jean Karl Vernay's car, while battling for sixth place and flipped over, skating over the tarmac runoff upside-down, before returning to its wheels in the gravel trap. The Englishman would sit out the second race, due to being at hospital for checkups. In non-championship races, Lancaster finished third at Zolder, for ART at the Masters of Formula 3 event and was 11th at the Macau Grand Prix for Manor Motorsport.

Formula Renault 3.5

Lancaster had been expected to return to the F3 Euroseries for the 2009 season, driving for SG Formula alongside Toyota junior drivers Henkie Waldschmidt and Andrea Caldarelli, but a pre-season disagreement with the team led to Alexandre Marsoin driving for the team. He joined Comtec Racing for the rest of the 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season, taking his first win, during the series' first race at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão. He ended up thirteenth in the championship. He returned to the series in 2010, moving to Fortec Motorsport.

Formula Two

Lancaster began 2011 without a regular drive, but moved to Formula Two to take part in the Magny-Cours event only, driving with sponsorship from Silver Lining. He scored points in both races in which he competed.

Auto GP

Lancaster also competed two rounds in Auto GP with Super Nova Racing in 2011. He won at Donington in wet conditions.

GP2 Series

Lancaster made his GP2 Series début in 2012. He signed to drive for Ocean Racing Technology with fellow rookie Nigel Melker. He was replaced by Brendon Hartley after the first event of the season for budgetary reasons.
On 8 May 2013, newcomer GP2 team Hilmer announced that Lancaster would drive alongside Formula Renault champion and Sauber test driver Robin Frijns for the third round of the 2013 GP2 season. On his return, he finished on the podium in the feature race, benefitting from a penalty given to Carlin's Jolyon Palmer. With his team mate winning, it was a double podium for Hilmer.
Lancaster went on to take his maiden GP2 win on 30 June 2013 at his home round at Silverstone, the fifth round of the season. He won the sprint race, repeating the British success that weekend along with Sam Bird who also won that weekend the day before in the feature race.

Racing record

Career summary

* Season still in progress.
‡ Team standings.

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

YearEntrant1234567891011121314DCPoints
2007SG Drivers ProjectZOL
1
Ret		ZOL
2
26		NÜR
1
Ret		NÜR
2
11		HUN
1
2		HUN
2
25		DON
1
1		DON
2
4		MAG
1
11		MAG
2
13		EST
1
1		EST
2
1		CAT
1
1		CAT
2
1		2nd102

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

YearEntrantChassisEngine1234567891011121314151617181920DCPoints
2008ART Grand PrixDallara F308/070MercedesHOC
1
Ret		HOC
2
DNS		MUG
1
23		MUG
2
25		PAU
1
3		PAU
2
7		NOR
1
5		NOR
2
Ret		ZAN
1
Ret		ZAN
2
Ret		NÜR
1
7		NÜR
2
1		BRH
1
9		BRH
2
10		CAT
1
10		CAT
2
22		BUG
1
12		BUG
2
Ret		HOC
1
Ret		HOC
2
20		12th19

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

YearTeam1234567891011121314151617PosPoints
2009Comtec RacingCAT
1		CAT
2		SPA
1		SPA
2		MON
1		HUN
1
9		HUN
2
10		SIL
1
22		SIL
2
15		BUG
1
8		BUG
2
5		ALG
1
1		ALG
2
Ret		NÜR
1
9		NÜR
2
Ret		ALC
1
3		ALC
2
20		13th39
2010Fortec MotorsportALC
1
4		ALC
2
Ret		SPA
1
9		SPA
2
7		MON
1
7		BRN
1
10		BRN
2
7		MAG
1
10		MAG
2
Ret		HUN
1
Ret		HUN
2
22		HOC
1
3		HOC
2
8		SIL
1
13		SIL
2
17		CAT
1
14		CAT
2
9		13th39

Complete FIA Formula Two Championship results

Year12345678910111213141516PosPoints
2011SIL
1		SIL
2		MAG
1
7		MAG
2
6		SPA
1		SPA
2		NÜR
1		NÜR
2		BRH
1		BRH
2		SPL
1		SPL
2		MON
1		MON
2		CAT
1		CAT
2		10th14

Complete Auto GP results

YearEntrant1234567891011121314PosPoints
2011Super Nova RacingMNZ
1		MNZ
2		HUN
1		HUN
2		BRN
1
4		BRN
2
6		DON
1
1		DON
2
4		OSC
1		OSC
2		VAL
1		VAL
2		MUG
1		MUG
2		11th51

Complete GP2 Series results

YearEntrant123456789101112131415161718192021222324DCPoints
2012Ocean Racing TechnologySEP
FEA
Ret		SEP
SPR
17		BHR1
FEA		BHR1
SPR		BHR2
FEA		BHR2
SPR		CAT
FEA		CAT
SPR		MON
FEA		MON
SPR		VAL
FEA		VAL
SPR		SIL
FEA		SIL
SPR		HOC
FEA		HOC
SPR		HUN
FEA		HUN
SPR		SPA
FEA		SPA
SPR		MNZ
FEA		MNZ
SPR		MRN
FEA		MRN
SPR		34th0
2013Hilmer MotorsportSEP
FEA		SEP
SPR		BHR
FEA		BHR
SPR		CAT
FEA
3		CAT
SPR
10		MON
FEA
12		MON
SPR
17		SIL
FEA
5		SIL
SPR
1		NÜR
FEA
7		NÜR
SPR
1		HUN
FEA
23		HUN
SPR
18		SPA
FEA		SPA
SPR		MNZ
FEA
13		MNZ
SPR
17		MRN
FEA
9		MRN
SPR
5		YMC
FEA
Ret		YMC
SPR
Ret		11th73
2014MP MotorsportBHR
FEA
17		BHR
SPR
15		CAT
FEA		CAT
SPR		MON
FEA		MON
SPR		RBR
FEA		RBR
SPR		23rd6
2014Hilmer MotorsportSIL
FEA
22		SIL
SPR
13		HOC
FEA
Ret		HOC
SPR
5		HUN
FEA
17		HUN
SPR
16		SPA
FEA
19		SPA
SPR
Ret		MNZ
FEA
11		MNZ
SPR
15		SOC
FEA
12		SOC
SPR
16		YMC
FEA
18		YMC
SPR
14		23rd6
2015Hilmer MotorsportBHR
FEA		BHR
SPR		CAT
FEA		CAT
SPR		MON
FEA		MON
SPR		RBR
FEA		RBR
SPR		SIL
FEA
16		SIL
SPR
17		HUN
FEA		HUN
SPR		SPA
FEA		SPA
SPR		MNZ
FEA		MNZ
SPR		SOC
FEA		SOC
SPR		BHR
FEA		BHR
SPR		YMC
FEA		YMC
SPR		32nd0