King’s Lynn racer Sayell hits hat-trick of Snetterton third places

Lynn racer Rob Sayell made the third step of the podium his own at Snetterton in rounds 6, 7 and 8 of the Formula Jedi championship at the weekend.

Sayell, who won last year’s championship, had second and fourth places at Brands Hatch in April, and went into the lead of this year’s championship after a third and two more fourth places at Cadwell in May.

A new format for this year sees a qualifying session deciding race one’s grid. Then the top eight places in race one being reversed to form the grid for race two and finally the fastest times from race two decide the grid for race three.

The race times have also been reduced from 20 to 15 minutes.

Sayell qualified fourth for the first race on Saturday moving up one place to finish third. This gave him a starting place of sixth for Sunday’s first race and a brilliant start saw him into the lead on the first lap.

He held the place for most of the race but was overhauled by former champion Lee Morgan and Worcester based race instructor Michael Watson in the closing stages.

The final race of the weekend saw another great start from fifth to complete a hat-trick of third places and to hold on to the championship lead.

Rob’s next outing will be at Castle Combe in July, a circuit that is new to him. The Formula is changing its name at the meeting from Formula Jedi to F1000 to reflect the 1000cc motorbike engines used.

Sayell is still looking for his first win of the season and commented: “Morgan and Watton are almost a second a lap faster than the rest of the field so I need to find some more pace for the next three rounds.

“The new format is putting me further down the grid than qualifying would do so it’s a challenge.

“But I have a good family run team behind me, and five podiums from eight races is good consistent finishing.”