Difference between revisions of "Jones Racing"

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Revision as of 21:44, 25 December 2012

Jones Racing is a motor racing team managed and owned by Sammy Jones based in Banbury, England. From its establishment in the latter half of 2010, the organisation has expanded into many disciplines. Jones Racing is best known for its F1RWRS team, currently Castrol Jones Racing, the first ever driver-run outfit in the series. For the 2014 season, Jones as the lead driver will be partnered by Daniel Melrose. As well as the F1RWRS team, Jones also runs outfits in the F2RWRS and F3RWRS. The organisation also ran a team in the F1RLFS/IRDU Rejects Cup, which was where Castrol's association with the team originally began. The category has since been reformed as the Rejects of LFS series, which the team has entered once again.

Creation

Jones Racing was created in the aftermath of the inaugural F1RWRS season in 2010 in which Sammy Jones drove for the West Cliff Racing team alongside Douglas Mann, with both drivers suffering with terrible strategic calls from the pit wall, race after race. Despite Sammy picking up two 3rd places at the beginning of the year, both drivers had had enough. With all the top seats at other teams secured for the upcoming season, Sammy went out on a limb and was the first driver to create his own team in the series. In order to generate the money necessary to run his own team, Jones went into partnership with his close friend Tex Pearson, a rubber manufacturing magnate, who would bankroll the team through title sponsorship. Pearson's rubber chicken division, RubberTex Chickens was the chosen brand for sponsorship, and the deal between the two men was agreed for three seasons. The team name was altered as a result to RubberTex-Jones Racing, and during the next two seasons was frequently shortened to RTJ Racing, or RJR. A brand new facility was built on the Thorpe Way Industrial Estate in Banbury specifically for use by Jones' team. It was an ideal location, close to where Jones had been born and grown up and was famous for the other motorsport outfits that had been based there, including the Marussia and Simtek F1 teams, Dave Richards' Prodrive operation, and Kenny Roberts Snr's MotoGP team.

F1RWRS History

Jones Racing
150px
Full Name	Castrol Jones Racing F1RWRS Team
Base	Banbury, Oxfordshire, England
Founder(s)	Sammy Jones Tex Pearson
Team Principal(s)	Sammy Jones
Technical Director	Tom Taylor
Current Drivers	#9 - Sammy Jones #10 - Rosco Vantini
Other Noted Drivers	Chris Dagnall Kay Lon Daniel Melrose
Debut	2011 F1RWRS Bavarian Grand Prix
Races	68 (138 entries)
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race Wins	6
Podiums	25
Points	293
Pole Positions	6
Fastest Laps	3

The 2011 Season - A Difficult Birth

Preparations for the upcoming 2011 season went well, with a car quickly designed in the new factory whilst an engine deal was sourced from Renault, with the French manufacturer agreeing to supply the team exclusively with V6 turbo units. Supply deals with Goodyear and Brembo for tyres and brakes respectively were also arranged. As other teams also went about their preparations, RubberTex-Jones Racing were able to shock the whole F1RWRS paddock by securing the signature of 1991 F1 World Champion Chris Dagnall who would be making his full time F1RWRS debut after filling in for Daniel Melrose who had missed the final 3 races of the 2010 season through injury. With two experienced F1 drivers together with a promising chassis and engine combination, many tipped the team to be a major contender for both championships in 2011.

The reality however was that the season was far less successful for the team than had been anticipated. At the first race weekend, the Bavarian Grand Prix, neither car could even clear pre-qualifying, setting the second and third slowest times. Over the year the new pre-qualifying format proved to significantly hamper the team's potential, particularly Sammy who racked up 9 of the team's 10 DNPQs. Dagnall took the team's first pole position and points though in the third race of the year at Oschersleben and at the next race at the Nurburgring, he took an emotional first win for the team. Double retirements in Belgium and the Surfers SuperPrix were separated by numerous points finishes for both drivers, though Chris took the lion's share including pole and 4th place at the Tasman GP whilst Sammy got used to running his own team. In the final race of the year at Laguna Seca, Dagnall took the team's second podium with 3rd place, a great way to end what had been a bit of an up and down year. Reliability had proven to be an issue which Renault vowed to resolve for 2012, and for Sammy, with a total of just 4 points over the year, it actually proved to be a worse season than his previous one at West Cliff. As a new team though, 7th place in the Constructors' Championship was a positive result to built on.

The 2012 Season - Oh So Close

Whilst it could be argued that 2011 was just a learning curve for the RubberTex-Jones Racing team, the 2012 F1RWRS season brought with it a far greater level of expectation. There was continuity in both sponsorship and driver line-up, whilst Dan Greenlaw was given a test driver role following the collapse of the IRDU Rejects Cup series. With both Sammy Jones and Chris Dagnall in good form, and with a year's experience with the team behind them, they really got into their stride. Dagnall took two podiums at the Nurburgring and Spa, in the first half of the season before the team's two wins that year, one each for Chris and Sammy, came at the British GP and Tasman GP respectively. These two victories book-ended a two race ban handed to Sammy following a highly controversial and very public spat between Jones, Barii Mori, and his team boss and driver himself, Phoenix McAllister, which became known as 'The Mori/Jones Saga'.

The issue began at Spa, where Jones suffered a sickening crash having hit Mori in the run through Eau Rouge after the Japanese driver had slowed due to a mistake. Whilst initially there were no bad words exchanged, Mori's repeated refusal to apologise for the incident which also involved Rhys Davies, led to a war of words between the two drivers over the next two races, with the climax coming at the British Grand Prix, where a first lap incident saw Mori run into the back of Jones, with Davies then driving into Mori. Afterwards with all three drivers out of the race, McAllister broke Jones' nose in an exchange that saw the Spaniard arrested and Jones temporarily hospitalised. Following these events, the F1RWRS Commission gave both Davies and Jones two race bans for erratic driving that endangered others and McAllister a three race ban and a fine of £100,000, along with a £50,000 fine for his Team Phoenix operation, for whom Mori drove for. Mori himself only received a suspended one race ban and £50,000 fine. The fallout for Jones' team however was huge, when Tex Pearson made the announcement that he would be selling his 50% share in the team to Sammy. The bad publicity generated from the unfounded claims of attempted murder that were made by Phoenix McAllister after the British GP were too much for his RubberTex company to simply ignore, and as a result the partnership ended at the close of the 2012 season. Mori briefly declared his interest in purchasing Pearson's shares in the team, but Sammy blocked repeated attempts from the Japanese, who was acting on behalf of Nissan, and he ended up orchestrating Nissan's purchase of Australian Minardi which subsequently became Sunshine Infiniti instead.

Despite running just a single car at Brands Hatch and Snetterton, both Sammy and Chris were able to consistently score points over the remainder of the year, including a second place for Dagnall at the Surfers SuperPrix and at the conclusion of the season Chris almost walked away with the drivers' title whilst the RubberTex-Jones team were just pipped to the constructors' title by Anglo-Manx Racing. It was a highly successful year for the team, finishing with almost three times as many points as they'd had in 2011, but it was also tainted with the loss of RubberTex and the dispute with Mori and McAllister. Jones faced an uncertain future, and following RubberTex's withdrawal, admitted that there was only a 75% chance of the team being on the grid for 2013.

A Transition Of Turmoil

With their title sponsor lost for the upcoming 2013 season, and without his business partner with whom he'd founded the team, Sammy Jones faced a restructuring of his race team, right at the time when he needed continuity and calm. Instead of being able to build on the success of the 2012 season, he now faced a race against time to secure new sponsors and new funding. Fortunately Jones secured both with a title sponsorship arrangement with cigarette manufacturer Phillip Morris' Marlboro brand. Ever the pioneer, Jones was the first team boss to bring tobacco sponsorship into the F1RWRS, and the deal would see a name change for the team, becoming Marlboro Jones Racing, whilst the livery was also completely overhauled. In addition to the Marlboro money, Sammy was also able to attract the interest of electronics company Dell who joined in a smaller deal. Despite all this change, there was still continuity on the engine front, with Renault continuing to supply the team with an exclusive V6 turbo unit, and the team's Goodyear tyres remained. Chris Dagnall was set to remain for a third consecutive season and together, the all-new MJR-102 was expected to hit the ground running right from the off and maintain the level of success the team enjoyed during 2012.

But not long after the new sponsor announcement came the news from the F1RWRS Council about the major changes that would be brought about to the series. Everyone knew the changes were coming, but none knew what they were and to what extent they would impact the series. It was the largest, most comprehensive alteration since the inception of the championship and it would prove to have profound effects on the way the series was run, and the fortunes for teams in it. For Sammy, his Renault engine deal was void, and what would have been the MJR-102 chassis was forced to be scrapped. Disgusted at what seemed like a betrayal to the teams which had stuck by the series, Sammy protested the changes, but was ultimately forced to pull the plug on the Jones Racing operation, with Chris Dagnall going on to establish his own Dagnall Engineering team for the 2013 season. The Marlboro sponsorship deal was torn up, and much of the team's equipment was sold off to the Dagnall Engineering team, although Jones retained the team's base in Banbury and most of his staff, expecting to move into other fields of motorsport. Declaring himself to have no interest whatsoever in the new regulations, along with other drivers such as Jeroen Krautmeir and Luca Pacchiarini, Sammy and his team left the series completely.

The 2013 Season - A Mixed Bag

The 2013 season started without hindrance, but minus the Jones Racing team. But even by the second race, Sammy Jones was getting interested about getting involved once more. He had failed to move his operation into other series, and with the collapse of the IRDU Rejects Cup in 2012, Jones Racing wasn't running a team at all and wouldn't remain afloat for much longer. The F1RWRS Council, under its new leadership following the rules change, was maintaining the fine standard of the series and feeling that he got his assessment wrong about how the series would fare, Sammy began exploring ways in which he could re-enter the championship. He'd lost the advantage of finishing second in the constructors' championship in the previous season as he hadn't entered at the start of the year. The team would be officially classed as a 'new entrant' and would thus have to face the lottery of pre-qualifying, and the cars would run with numbers 40 and 41, rather than 3 and 4. But despite all this Sammy was able to convince Castrol, which had been sponsoring the Jones Racing team in the F1RLFS Cup in 2011, to move across and agree to sponsor Jones' re-born F1RWRS team. The agreement led to another name change, to Castrol Jones Racing. Dell were also convinced to return to the team, and further sponsorship came from Nabisco's Oreo Biscuits brand. The redesigned car for the new rules was completely different to the previous MJR-102, not a single part was the same, and the new car was named the CJR-102B. Ford came in as the team's new engine supplier with HBD VI engines. They certainly weren't the best on the grid, but with the season already underway and the best deals already taken, Sammy had to make do with whatever he could from whoever would supply him. With the car and funding in place, all he now needed was a second driver.

At the Kamaha team, driver Kay Lon had become dissatisfied with the poor performance in the first few races of the year, having experienced much better fortunes at the same team in previous seasons. It was one of many examples of the changing order in the F1RWRS, and having criticised the team publicly, Lon was promptly sacked by owner Barii Mori. Sammy's disputes with Mori went back to the previous season, and this was an ideal chance to get one over his foe. Lon faced having to drive another uncompetitive car as all the top drives were secure, but Sammy threw him a lifeline, and with nothing to lose, Kay Lon became Castrol Jones Racing's second driver, just in time for the third round in Mexico. Having finished third in the drivers' standings in 2012, behind Chris Dagnall, there was no doubt that Kay Lon was a talented driver, and he was the ideal replacement for Dagnall at the team.

The team showed everyone they'd lost none of their skill as on their return to the series in Mexico Lon took a superb win. This was followed by a podium for each driver at the next two races in the USA and Monaco. At this point, Mori revisited his previous disagreements with Jones, only this time accusing the team of copying Kamaha's 2013 car. Threatening to sue Lon for sharing confidential information about the KM-4L car with Jones' team, Mori's claims were never actually proven, and scrutineers at the Monaco race confirmed that the two cars were indeed different. Nonetheless, nervous about further negative publicity, Nabisco announced they would terminate their two year contract with the team a year early. A double DNPQ at Pau then provided the low point of the year, and this was followed with two straight double retirements before Jones got the team back to winning ways at the Dutch GP and back into contention for 2nd place in the Constructors' Championship. A second place followed immediately after for the Brit in Belgium whilst Lon collected a number of lower points finishes. A slight lean period followed before scandal erupted around Jones and his team once again.

Scandal, False Allegation and A Parting of Ways

In the run up to the Chinese Grand Prix, reports from various news agencies including Autosport had linked Kay Lon with allegations of sexual assault, amongst other offences, with young female Asian drivers. Initially the reports were brushed off, considered merely wild speculation, and both Lon and Jones went into the race weekend fully focused on closing the gap to second place in the Constructors' Championship. Both drivers qualified inside the top 10, with Lon 7th and Jones 9th, but following the session, Lon was arrested by Chinese police for an alleged sexual assault on a young Chinese kart driver, and faced a court hearing on the Monday after the race. Not that it affected him as whilst Sammy went out following a crash, Lon brought his car home to score another podium following some late race attrition. It was just what the team needed as they battled to try and secure a second straight second place finish in the Championship with only Ashley Watkinson scoring for HRT in 6th place and with neither of Gillet's drivers scoring at all. The gap between the three teams was down to just six points with only two races remaining. In the aftermath of the race however Jones made a statement about Lon's situation, declaring that his place at the team was under threat should the case drag on. He feared it would tarnish his team even further just as the previous allegations during the Monaco GP about the car's legality had done.

The court hearing never went ahead, but Kay Lon was arrested once more as he boarded his plane at Shanghai Airport, accused not only of sexual assault, but also of bribery, with his Chinese laywer reportedly handing over $31,000 to police at the station Lon was questioned in. With the news quickly spreading around the world, Embassy Tobacco immediately terminated a contract with the team which at that point in time was a secret, and would have come into force in 2014. Fearing further backers would pull out too, Jones took action and promptly sacked Kay Lon from the team, his issues away from the racetrack simply too invasive on the team's activities. It was a regrettable move for Sammy who wanted to keep the talented German on board, but his focus now turned to finding a replacement driver, initially for just the final two races of the year. In a cruel twist of fate, it later emerged that the most serious allegations against Kay Lon were in fact proved false, and the German was only found guilty of lewd behaviour, being fined $150 and ordered to pay $3900 in compensation.

There were an array of drivers available for Sammy to sign for the final two races of the year, it was well known that Daniel Melrose wanted out from ArrowTech whilst paydriver Saeed Al Faisal had offered his services to the team. Jack Christopherson was also rumoured to be interested in making his F1RWRS debut. Sammy made it clear right from the beginning that his favourite to sign would be Melrose, and in the end the Australian agreed, buying out his contract with ArrowTech, and signing for the final two races in Japan and Brazil with Castrol Jones Racing.

In his first race for the team at Autopolis, Melrose finished in 8th whilst Jones came home to finish in a solid 4th place. With HRT failing to score the gap to third was down to a single point although Gillet had scored well and opened up the gap to second, meaning that it was highly unlikely that Jones' team would walk away as runners up of the championship for two years running. With neither Jones nor Melrose finishing the final race of the year at Brazil, the team didn't even take 3rd, ending up in 4th place overall, with that single point tantalisingly between them and third placed HRT. Aside from the announcement that Melrose would be driving for the team for 2014 on a one year contract, it was an unhappy end to what had been a very up and down year.

The focus then swiftly moved onto the 2nd Bud 500, the only non-championship race for the 2013 season. For Castrol Jones Racing, Sammy Jones lined up alongside Jack Christopherson, who had been signed in a one-off deal for the race, and Alberto Cara, a friend and understudy of former Jones driver Kay Lon. The line-up had been finalised before Lon's firing from the team, and consequently there was no place for newly signed-for-2014 driver Daniel Melrose. Despite Jones qualifying 5th, it was Christopherson who came through and took the victory, clinching the Dan Wheldon Cup and impressing Jones and his team greatly, ultimately leading to Christopherson signing for Sammy's team as a test driver for 2014, although he raced full-time for Foxdale as well. The good result somewhat made up for the lacklustre end to the season, with the team looking ahead for a smoother, more successful run next year.

The 2014 Season - More Of The Same

With Jones continuing into his fifth consecutive season of the F1RWRS, and Melrose, similarly experienced alongside him, Castrol Jones Racing entered 2014 with yet another experienced line-up. Another all-new car, the CJR-103, was partnered with the same Ford engine from 2013. Despite initially seeking to switch the powerplant in the off-season for something more powerful, in the end Jones was satisfied that improvements to the chassis, and the way it would be able to deliver the power from the engine better, was a better use of his team's development resources. The new chassis was also hoped to bring about some much needed reliability - the CJR-102B had retired from nearly 50% of the races it started.

Alongside the developments for the new car, new sponsorship was secured to fill the void of the Embassy walk-out, despite Loctite committing itself to the team for 2014. Having toured local businesses around the Jones Racing factory in Banbury, both British Bakels and Powerline Electric Motors were signed on one year deals each, as well as a larger deal with Beta Tools which saw the Italian-based company's logos both on the engine cover and rear wing of the CJR-103. Included in this latter deal was an option for Beta to increase it's involvement with the team from 2015 onwards.

The season started brightly for the Castrol Jones Racing team, with Melrose collecting two 3rd places in the first two races. It was clear however, that the car lacked the ultimate pace of the frontrunning MRTs, ensuring that pole positions were almost certainly out of the question. However the car demonstrated much improved reliability, exactly as Jones had hoped, despite a double retirement at Mexico. Jones took the team's first win of the year, and their sixth in total, as Castrol Jones Racing reached 100 entries in the sport, in a very wet Monaco race dominated by the high number of retirements. At the next race in France, the team's 50th start, Melrose brought home another podium finish to leave the team just three points away from the top of the constructors' championship as the season approached half distance.

Two poor performances at Britain and Germany saw the squad slip out of contention for the constructors' title lead, although another 3rd place finish for Melrose at the Belgian race consolidated the team's hold on 4th place overall. This result came on the back of a major update to CJR's Ford engine, and following an initial courting of the revived Triumph marque as an engine supplier for it's future F2RWRS operation which ultimately failed to materialise, speculation began to circulate that Castrol Jones Racing were lining up a deal with Ford who would commit greater resources to the team in the future. A string of minor points finishes towards the latter half of the year kept CJR in contention in the constructors' championship in the fierce battle between themselves, Gillet, Kamaha and Sunshine, and whilst there were two double points finishes in a row in Italy and at Akrotiri Bay, with both cars failing to finish at Macau the team lost some of their momentum and slipped behind the better-performing Gillet and Sunshine cars.

In the run up to the final race of the year, the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji, Melrose announced his intention to establish a consultancy firm to give advice and support to new teams entering the F1RWRS. Unhappy at the prospect of having sensitive information potentially leaked to rival teams, the proposal didn't sit well with Jones, who made it clear to Melrose that should he remain at the team for 2015, he needed to drop his plans. After a public exchange of words between the two, the matter was resolved on the eve of the Japanese race, with Melrose walking away from the team, and his seat for 2015. In his place, Jones had already lined up Italian Rosco Vantini who had enjoyed a successful F2RWRS campaign and looked set to clinch second place in the championship. Unsure about Melrose's future at the team, Jones had gone behind his back to agree terms with Vantini for 2015 in the event that Melrose left, and once the Australian made the announcement, Jones simultaneously formally declared Rosco a Jones Racing driver for the 2015 season. Despite all this, Melrose still drove a strong race, finishing 5th, and with it ensuring that the team held onto fifth place overall in the championship. It wasn't as successful a year as 2013, and certainly not as much as 2012, but it was still respectable, and Jones looked to build on this for 2015 as the turbo ban came into effect.

With the regular season over, two non-championship races filled the winter months, with Jones' team participating in both. In the F1RWRS' third visit to Indianapolis, for 2014 named the Bud Light World 800, Jones like many of the top teams ran four cars in total, for himself and Melrose, test driver Christopherson as well as Jones' protege, Terry Hawkin. All four ran well over the two races, and with the aggregate results combined, Christopherson led a CJR 1-2-3 sweep of the podium, joined by Melrose and Hawkin with Jones having suffered in an incident with Jesus Plaza in the second race for which he made his feelings clear afterwards. It was the second consecutive time Christopherson had clinched the Dan Wheldon Memorial Trophy, and was an overall brilliant result for the team. The second of the two races occurred at the Nurburgring as an endurance event, and brought about the return of the Luxembourg Grand Prix name to the F1RWRS. Each team entered two cars, with two drivers for each. For Castrol Jones Racing, Melrose was partnered with Kay Lon, in a one-off return to the team as the German had left the Sunshine team and had yet to officially start work with Prospec who would be his new employers for 2015. In the other car, Jones paired up with Hawkin in a blend of youth and experience. For the latter pair the race was a disaster, with Jones retiring with transmission failure after only a handful of laps, but Melrose and Lon had a very strong race, though a late puncture for Lon put them out of contention for the win, but a second place was still a great result, and for Daniel and Sammy, a fitting way to end their partnership at the team together. After the somewhat anti-climatic end to the main season, these good results were the perfect platform for Jones to prepare his team for 2015.

The 2015 Season

With a line-up of himself and Vantini already secure, Jones went into 2015 feeling confident about his team's chances. He had reason to be optimistic, having signed a partnership with Ford to become their nominated factory team in the F1RWRS, the first time the team had been in this position since their deal with Renault in 2011-12. Confident in a well developed engine, the Zetec XR8A, and happy with the chassis which had performed much better in 2014, Jones ordered only minor upgrades to the former CJR-103, which became the 104 for 2015. During the off-season however, it became obvious that other teams had made significant efforts to remain competitive, most notably MRT, and it was difficult to determine who exactly would have the upper hand once the season got underway.

F2RWRS History

Jones Racing
Full Name	Castrol Jones Racing F2RWRS Team
Base	Banbury, Oxfordshire, England
Founder(s)	Sammy Jones Tex Pearson
Team Principal(s)	Sammy Jones
Technical Director	Tom Taylor
Current Drivers	#24 - Terry Hawkin #25 - Hansuke Shioya
Other Noted Drivers	None others.
Debut	2015 F2RWRS Tasman Grand Prix
Races	5 (12 entries)
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race Wins	0
Podiums	1
Points	12
Pole Positions	0
Fastest Laps	0

In the latter half of 2013, Jones looked to expand his operation into the newly created feeder series for the F1RWRS, titled the F2RWRS. However, caught up in the day to day running of his team, Jones missed the cut for submitting an entry to the new series, and consequently would miss out for the 2014 season. Despite that setback, he quickly announced his intention to have a team on standby should a place become available during the season, and became first official reserve team.

The 2014 Season - Scuderia Jones Italia

Following the sale of the F1RWRS Trueba Racing Team to Scuderia Alitalia, an issue arose over the position of Trueba's F2RWRS team, Trueba Junior Team. Initially Scuderia Alitalia declared their ownership of it, as a direct extension of the F1RWRS operation, but Sammy Jones lodged a protest against the move, declaring that as the official reserve team, he'd have rights to any team that closed down or went up for sale in the series. Consequently with the governing body's permission, Scuderia Alitalia and Jones Racing took joint control of the team, renamed to Scuderia Jones Italia. Terry Hawkin was given a drive in the team in place of Chinese Du Lei, with Marco Bizzarri retained. The team became active from the Belgian race onwards, and despite a double retirement from both drivers, at the next race in Hungary, Hawkin gave the team it's first ever podium, with Bizzarri scoring also in 7th. An 8th place followed for both drivers, Bizzarri at Brno and Hawkin at the next race at Monza, before Hawkin took another 3rd place finish at Estoril. Following his podium, Hawkin then returned to compete only in the F3RWRS in order to remain eligible for that category, and so his replacement at Jones Italia was rookie Irishman Connor O'Heagan, another of Jones' young proteges. O'Heagan showed his promise with some excellent qualifying performances, despite more mediocre results on race day, before Hawkin returned to the seat for the final race of the year, the FedEx 100, where he took an emphatic victory with Bizzarri behind him to give the team a 1-2 finish, ensuring the partnership between Jones Racing and Scuderia Alitalia ended in the best possible fashion. From there, the team became the sole property of Alitalia, with Jones compensated with half the value of the team.

The 2015 Season

Hawkin was already guaranteed a place at the newly created Castrol Jones Racing F2RWRS team for the 2015 season, which initially lined up a supply of Triumph Motor Company engines. The manufacturer was revived with the help of BMW who sold their rights to the name to wealthy English businessman David Marshall. Marshall wanted to take the Triumph name into motorsport competition through a series of partnerships and engine deals, one of which presented itself as the tender process for new engine suppliers for the F2RWRS for the 2015 season. Attracted by the idea of a locally-based British engine supply, Sammy Jones signed an agreement with Marshall to use Triumph engines in the F2RWRS should they be selected once the tender process was complete. Ultimately however, the bid was rejected, and instead Jones was forced to change tactics and signed a deal with Aston Martin instead. Aston were already running their own team, and had won three races in 2014 with Andrej Kremnicky, and so looked like a promising partner with which to strike a deal with. With the engine fitted to the stock Lola chassis supplied to all the teams, Jones and his outfit were ready, confident that with Hawkin, they'd pass pre-qualifying with ease. After negotiations with a number of drivers, Hawkin was eventually partnered with Japanese driver Hansuke Shioya who had a year's experience of the F2RWRS having driven for the Kit-Kat Warriors team in 2014.

F3RWRS History

Jones Racing
Full Name	Jones Racing F3RWRS Team
Base	Banbury, Oxfordshire, England
Founder(s)	Sammy Jones Tex Pearson
Team Principal(s)	Sammy Jones
Technical Director	Tom Taylor
Current Drivers	#5 - Roberto Dinella #6 - Eric Swerts
Other Noted Drivers	Terry Hawkin
Debut	2014 F3RWRS Round of Australia
Races	30 (60 entries)
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race Wins	4
Podiums	10
Points	134
Pole Positions	1
Fastest Laps	6

Following on from the announcement of the creation of the F2RWRS a couple of months earlier, at the close of the 2013 season of the F1RWRS, a second feeder series was established, the Formula 3 Rejects World Race Series. This was a third tier designed to be the first step on a ladder that would lead firstly to the F2RWRS and then onto the F1RWRS. Having missed out in the F2RWRS, and eager to expand his team into new categories, Sammy Jones was one of the first to formally apply for an entry to the new series. Attracted by the freedom in chassis design and engine supplier, it was the ideal environment for Jones Racing to test out their chassis building capability, with the potential to supply customer teams in the future.

The 2014 Season - Heroic Hawkin Brings Success

Initially following his application it seemed as if Jones' team would struggle, as early on it was announced that the team's main backer and title sponsor in the F1RWRS, Castrol, would not commit to the same level of sponsorship for Jones' junior teams. As a result, his F3RWRS team wouldn't have a title sponsor, and would rely heavily on personal sponsors from the drivers hired for the season. The first driver to be hired was young Englishman Terry Hawkin and was soon followed by Belgian Eric Swerts. Both were exciting young prospects, and were expected to be joined by a third driver as Jones had originally made an application for a three car team. Instead, he withdrew the third car for budget reasons, stating that they wanted 'to make sure we do things properly in our first year before making such a big commitment to the series'. Each driver brought with them enough personal finance to allow the team to design their own chassis, the JR-300, with engines supplied by Volkswagen who had an excellent pedigree at this level of competition. This, Jones believed, would give both drivers the best chance possible to prove themselves in the tough motorsport world.

The season began well for the team with Hawkin clinching two 4th places at the first round of the year in Australia, and Swerts taking another 4th place in the United States. From there however, Hawkin made a temporary move into the F2RWRS to fill in for the injured Laurent Seron at the Gillet team. His replacement at Jones Racing was Daniel Melrose's younger brother, Joel Melrose in time for the third round at the team's home race in Britain. The weekend proved to be a disaster however as Joel got involved in a number of high profile incidents, whilst Eric had an anonymous three races. With Hawkin returning for the German round anyway, it saved Sammy Jones from firing Melrose from the team. It was there where the team finally came good, with Hawkin totally dominating the weekend, taking pole, two wins and a second place, and fastest lap for all three races. Swerts backed him up with the other win in race two, and followed Hawkin home in race 3, to give Jones Racing three consecutive race wins, and two consecutive one-two's. Hawkin comfortably took the round victory, and his and the team's performance put both in an excellent position in their respective championships. At the next round at Spa, Belgium, the team didn't fare quite so well as their German domination, but both Hawkin and Swerts took a third place each, with the team now enjoying a total of 7 podiums in 6 races. China proved to be another trying weekend, with Swerts suffering from anonymity once again, whilst Hawkin, having taken 4th in race 1, was punted out by Max Torbani in race 2, putting a premature end on his weekend. With just the Surfers SuperPrix left on the calender, revived after a brief hiatus after being dumped by the F1RWRS, both team and Hawkin were all but out of contention for their championships. Nonetheless, it didn't stop Hawkin from taking the fastest lap of the race en route to victory, capping off a fine season for the Englishman who finished second overall in the drivers' championship. With the drivers' combined points total, Jones Racing finished a solid third in the inaugural F3RWRS season, with 111 points.

The 2015 Season

Despite his somewhat occasional lacklustre performances, Swerts was offered the chance to remain with Jones Racing for the F3RWRS' 2015 season, and took the opportunity to re-sign, alongside a part-time commitment to Gillet's F2RWRS campaign. To partner the Belgian, Jones initially brought across another young Brit in Josh Carlisle, who had driven for Jones in the Rejects of LFS 2014 season. Following poor performances however Carlisle was replaced by Danny van Rijkens and subsequently filled in as a substitute for Falik Arrows Juniors in the F3RWRS for the final two rounds of the year when their driver Yuka Katayama was promoted to the F2RWRS. Jones however was prepared to give Carlisle another chance for 2015, though there was a protest from Falik Arrows over the legality of Carlisle signing for Jones Racing, due to a clause in his contract stating that Falik Arrows had an option to sign him for the 2015 season. Ultimately despite at first resolving the matter amicably, Jones changed his position, and hired Italian Roberto Dinella instead, allowing Carlisle to be signed by Falik Arrows. Dinella also came off the back of experience in the RoLFS having driven for Grands Travaux Inutiles in the final two races of the 2014 season, and brought with him healthy backing from Italian metals firm Lampre. With Dinella an untried rookie in the series, it was expected that Swerts would be leading the team, despite his commitment to the F2RWRS as well. The team's engine supply was switched, with VW pulling out of the series, fellow German manufacturer BMW stepped in to fill the gap in partnership between Jones Racing and JLD Motorsport, a subsidiary of the BMW-backed Melrose Racing Team. JLD would use the JR-301 chassis, and in return Jones Racing would take a supply of the same BMW engines as JLD.

F1RLFS/IRDU Rejects Cup/RoLFS History

The 2011 Season - Mired In The Midfield

The inaugural season of the F1RLFS Cup brought with it a fair bit of success for the Jones Racing team. Having quickly found a title sponsor in Castrol, they had a firm footing with which to go racing. In terms of drivers, Sammy Jones dovetailed his driving and managerial duties in the F1RWRS to participate in this series too, and signed inexperienced rookie Joey Tempest to drive alongside him. Tempest was a young, quick Swede, and Sammy saw the potential the youngster had, and hoped to nurture him to greater things. This talent brought Tempest a pole and race win at the Eurobrun Aston 500, but otherwise he had a fairly poor year, scoring on only one other occasion, an 8th place. Sammy's best result was only a second place at Kyoto, but he scored and finished more consistently and ended ahead of his Swedish protege at the close of the year. With the team securing 4th place in the teams' standings, it was by and large a season to celebrate, but Sammy felt he could no longer take the risk of keeping Joey in the second seat, and Tempest was dropped at the end of the season.

The 2012 Season - Over Before It Started

To replace the dropped Tempest, Sammy Jones signed up American Dan Greenlaw to drive alongside him for the 2012 season of the now re-named IRDU Rejects Cup. The re-naming of the series however was the first sign that something was amiss. The start of the season was heavily delayed, and when an announcement was finally made, it was to confirm the cancellation of the series. The exact reason was never given by the series' management, though persistent rumours hinted at corruption, and the complete mis-management of the series' financial resources. Ultimately it left teams like Castrol Jones Racing out in the cold, and many drivers unemployed. As a token gesture from Sammy, Greenlaw was signed up to the F1RWRS team, at the time known as RubberTex-Jones Racing, to become official test driver for 2012. Castrol, seeking to remain as a partner to Jones' operation, then moved across to become title sponsors of the F1RWRS team in 2013, following its reformation part-way through the year.

The 2014 Season - Disappointment and Despair

Following the ignominious demise of the IRDU Rejects Cup, the series' assets were passed through a number of legal avenues, before ending up in the hands of a Finnish consortium who declared that the series would be revived, mid-way through 2014. A further re-branding took place, with the series' new name being the Rejects of LFS series. Sammy Jones was one of a number of team bosses interested in re-joining, along with other prominent owners such as Phoenix McAllister and the Zimsport-Rosenforth group. The expansion meant Jones Racing was now running cars in four different series, and consequently, additional finances had to be sought to fund the new program. The first driver to be signed to the team was promising youngster Josh Carlisle who Sammy had spotted running in German Formula Ford in 2013, and brought Nestle sponsorship with him. With the reformed series taking on the identity of a feeder category for the F1RWRS, Jones was keen to have fresh talent in the cars, and Carlisle was the ideal addition to the team. Soon after, Jones was able to convince a number of companies to sponsor the new team, including the American 3M corporation and Lucas, the automotive spares manufacturer. They joined existing sponsors Castrol, Beta Tools and Loctite which had increased their commitment alongside sponsorship of Jones' F1RWRS effort. Tristan Jung had returned following the clearing of his name over alleged charges of money laundering and fraud, and looking for a way back into motorsport, the American-Korean discussed the possibility of signing for Jones' RoLFS team. Bringing money with him, Jung was subsequently hired to partner Carlisle.

Initial results for the team weren't encouraging, and whilst Carlisle just missed out on points with 5th place in the Blackwood sprint race, Jung brought home the first points finish with 6th in the South City feature race. Bottom of the teams' standings after four races, Jones gave the two drivers an ultimatum: to either improve or face replacement. With no more points forthcoming in the next four races though, Jones finally lost his patience and fired Carlisle from the team. It worked favourably for Josh however who was immediately hired by Falik Arrows Juniors to replace Yuka Katayama in their F3RWRS team, the Japanese having been promoted to Falik's F2RWRS squad. In his place, Jones promoted the team's test driver, South African Danny van Rijkens who would be experiencing his first outings in an international single seater series. The nerves didn't show however as in only his second race, the Westhill Sprint, van Rijkens finished a brilliant third, giving the Castrol Jones Racing team it's first podium of the season. Jung capped off a strong performance by taking 5th in the same event.

From there, the season ended on a sour note, with neither driver scoring in the final two races and Jones Racing finished bottom of the teams' championship. Unhappy with the lack of success, Castrol declared it would reduce its commitment to the team for 2015, whilst fellow sponsor 3M amended its contract, ensuring its logos would appear on Jones' F1RWRS cars in 2015 instead. With the team's finances looking shaky, the future of the Jones Racing RoLFS team was uncertain.

The 2015 Season - The Only Way is Up

Complete F1RWRS Results

Year	Chassis	Engine	#	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pts	CC
2011	Jones RTJ-100	Renault RS9000T-11			BAV	GER	SAX	LUX	BEL	GBR	ENG	KEN	NED	TAS	AUS	NSW	SUR	CHN	USA		40	7th
			17	Sammy Jones	DNPQ	DNPQ	10	Ret	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	6	DNPQ	8	DNPQ	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ
			18	Chris Dagnall	DNPQ	17	6	1	Ret	11	8	12	19	4	7	15	Ret	12	3
2012	Jones RTJ-101	Renault RS9000T-12			BAV	SAX	GER	LUX	BEL	NED	GBR	KEN	ENG	TAS	SUR	NSW	AUS	CHN	USA	500	115	2nd
			13	Sammy Jones	Ret	10	6	7	Ret	7	Ret	EX	EX	1	4	14	Ret	4	8	17
			14	Chris Dagnall	DNPQ	DNPQ	5	3	2	4	1	8	9	6	2	7	Ret	5	5	4
2013	Jones CJR-102B	Ford HBD VI			TAS	AUS	MEX	USA	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	NED	BEL	POR	MED	MAC	CHN	JPN	BRA	48	4th
			40	Sammy Jones			Ret	Ret	3†	DNPQ	Ret	Ret	1	2	4	11†	7†	Ret	4	Ret
			41	Kay Lon			1	2	Ret	DNPQ	Ret	Ret	9	5	6	Ret	6	3
				Daniel Melrose															8	Ret
2014	Jones CJR-103	Ford HBD VI Ford HBD VI-2			TAS	AUS	BRA	MEX	USA	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	BEL	ITA	MED	NED	MAC	CHN	JPN	47	5th
			7	Sammy Jones	9	10	5	Ret	7	1	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	4	4	4	Ret	6	Ret
			8	Daniel Melrose	3	3	9	Ret	4	Ret	3	Ret	11	3	5	5	10	Ret	7	5
2015	Jones CJR-104	Ford Zetec XR8A			TAS	AUS	MED	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	GBR	GER	BEL	AUT	ITA	NED	CHN	JPN	BRA	44*	3rd*
			9	Sammy Jones	3	4	9	11	7	4	3	Ret	7
			10	Rosco Vantini	2	Ret	4	3	3	8	6	2	2

Complete F2RWRS Results

For the 2014 season, refer to Scuderia Jones Italia.

Year	Chassis	Engine	#	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Points	TC
2015	Lola F2-15	Aston Martin AM-88			TAS	RSA	TUR	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	BEL	AUT	ITA	NED	SIN	JPN	USA	100	12*	9th*
			24	Terry Hawkin	7	3	DNPQ	5	Ret	14†	9
			25	Hansuke Shioya	Ret	13	DNPQ	Ret	Ret	12	11

Complete F3RWRS Results

Year	Chassis	Engine	#	Drivers	1			2			3			4			5			6			7	Points	TC
2014	Jones JR-300	VW 2.0 TFSI			AUS			USA			GBR			GER			BEL			CHN			SUR	111	3rd
			7	Terry Hawkin	4	13	4	7	19	10				1	2	1	3	21	10	4	Ret	X	1
				Joel Melrose							7	Ret	X
			8	Eric Swerts	12	Ret	X	4	15	9	11	NC	11	Ret	1	2	4	9	3	12	19	16	13
2015	Jones JR-301	BMW F31/5			1		2		3		4	5		6		7	8		9		10			23*	7th*
					AUS		TUR		MON	USA		GBR		GER		SPA	ITA		JPN		SUR
			5	Roberto Dinella	10	16	Ret	21	26	31	22	13	17	15	19
			6	Eric Swerts	29†	Ret	13	Ret	51†	7	6	7	2	30	2

Complete F1RLFS/IRDU Rejects Cup/RoLFS Results

Year	Chassis	Engine	#	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Points	TC
2011	Scaven	Hart 830			SOU	KYO	WES	AST	BLA	FER								27	4th
			3	Sammy Jones	7	2	5	14	11	10
			4	Joey Tempest	9	8	14	1	18	12
2012‡	Lola FN06	Toyota			CRO	AUT	GER	BEN	CHI	AFR	BRA	MAN						N/A	N/A
			9	Sammy Jones	C	C	C	C	C	C	C	C
			10	Dan Greenlaw	C	C	C	C	C	C	C	C
2014	Scaven S11B	Judd V8			BLA		SOU		FER		KYO		WES		AST			3	10th
					FEA	SPR	FEA	SPR	FEA	SPR	FEA	SPR	FEA	SPR	FEA	SPR
			19	Josh Carlisle	7	5	18	Ret	14	16	13	11
				Danny van Rijkens									13	3	11	18
			20	Tristan Jung	11	12	6	8	10	6	15	19	11	5	12	9
2015	Scaven S15	Judd V8			BLA		WES		FER		SOU		AST		KYO		KYO	12*	5th*
					HEA	FEA	HEA	FEA	HEA	FEA	HEA	FEA	HEA	FEA	HEA	FEA	300
			19	Danny van Rijkens	3	14	6	1
				Gilles Massinion					11	DNQ
			20	Connor O'Heagan	9	16	6	15	10	DNQ

• * Season in progress
• † Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.
• ‡ The IRDU Rejects Cup 2012 season was cancelled following the collapse of the series, with no races having taken place, before its revival in 2014 as the Rejects of LFS series.