Difference between revisions of "Kay Lon"

Latest revision as of 04:33, 4 September 2021

Kay Lon

Nationality	German
Born	24 February, 1991 Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Former Teams	Kamaha Jones Sunshine Prospec / MRT Aeroracing
Races	120 (105 starts)
Championships	0
Victories	3
Podiums	24
Points	226
Pole Positions	1
Fastest Laps	3
First Race	2010 German Grand Prix
First Victory	2013 Mexican Grand Prix
Last Victory	2017 Japanese Grand Prix
Last Race	2017 Chinese Grand Prix
Best Finish	3rd (2012)

Kay Lon, pictured in 2019

Kay Lon (born 24 February 1991 in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein) is a highly controversial former German racing driver famous for his career in ARWS. Lon entered every ARWS weekend from the series' inception in 2010 to his retirement in 2017. Since the International Procar Championship folded in mid-2018, Kay Lon has retired from full-time competition in pursuit on his business endeavours, mostly in form of driver management for drivers of the Best In The World Support Group.

Early Career

Kay Lon, son of a real estate businessman, was inspired by the successes of Michael Schumacher and James James Davies compete in motorsport. After having an anonymous karting career without winning any titles, Lon first caught public attention by making a risky jump to become the youngest British Formula Three driver at the age of 15 after replacing Dennis Retera at T-Sport,. It became very soon apparent that Lon was out of his depth. After showing promising speed in the first race at Spa-Francorchamps, Lon usually found himself at the very end of the grid and the time tables. His tenure ended after the following weekend at Silverstone, when Stuart Hall took his place.

Set back by that loss, Kay Lon decided to "retire" from motorsport, instead finishing his school education. In 2008, Lon went back to pursuing a racing career. Lon entered the Karting Formula 2 of the Swedish Karting Championship, doing very well for himself, blowing away the competition on the way to the 2008 title. Asked about the decision to not resume karting in Germany, Lon admitted that he "didn't want to endure the teasing" from his competitors. Meanwhile he started in four ATS Formel 3 Cup races, two in Oschersleben, where he retired two times, and two at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, the first ending in a seventh place finish with a further point for the fastest lap of the race, the second one being less successful and ending in a 16th place finish.

For 2009, Lon started for Rhino's Leipert Motorsport in the entire ATS Formel 3 Cup season. While his season consisted mainly of the consistent, yet unimpressive, driving that would be the foundation for his 2012 F1RWRS championship challenge, Lon impressed at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, where he completely dominated the competition to take all 24 points on offer with two poles, two fastest laps and two race wins. This drive caught the attention of Japanese businessman Tatsuya Kahama who offered Lon to drive in the to-be-established F1RWRS. After pondering over the offer, the team announced Lon as the second driver for his new F1RWRS team Kahama Motorsports shortly before the season finale. Lon finished fifth in the championship, beating out drivers from more established teams.

ARWS Career: 2010-2017

Kamaha (2010-2013)

2010

With Simon Redman joining the team only from the Luxembourgian Grand Prix onwards, Lon was the sole driver entered by Kamaha for the first F1RWRS race. Again challenged by a new environment, Lon never got out of the bottom half of the standings and ended the race second-to-last, only beating struggling former Formula One driver Thomas De Bock. Lon scored his first points in a rather anonymous effort at the following race, taking ninth place at the Nürburgring. The next two races went without points or any other noticeable incidents, whereas his team mate managed to get a secure place in the lower point regions. Adalaide's F1RWRS qualifying would serve as a first sign of Lon's true potential with a third place in qualifying, just behind championship contenders Gary Cameron and Frank Zimmer. His race performance was sub-par however and he finished the race only in 15th place. Kay Lon returned to the points in his first drive in Bahrain, having fought cool-headed against former F1 World Champion Daniel Melrose. A bad pit strategy ruined Lon's race at the 2010 F1RWRS Belgian Grand Prix, a second pit stop took a chance at points from him. However it allowed Kay to score his first fastest lap in F1RWRS, said first remaining the only one until late 2013. A return to anonymity in Great Britain was followed by points in the last event of the season. After the conclusion of the season, Lon was confirmed by Kamaha as their second driver for the 2011 season.

2011

Simon Redman had the best possible start to the season with a win at the Norisring. Lon however was not so lucky and never looked competitive all weekend long, ending the race in 12th, just where he started. The 2011 F1RWRS German Grand Prix did not bring any change, Lon was still close yet far from the points, whereas Redman made a solid fourth place. Oschersleben was a horrendous experience for the team with Lon finishing dead last and Redman only two positions ahead. After Kay Lon and Pippa Mann collided during the Luxembourg race, another crash-filled race followed at the following race. While Lon managed to outqualify his partner for the first time in 2011, Lon was disqualified for dangerous driving. Despite making derogatory comments to the press about the penalty, no further consequences followed. Another awful performance followed at the 2011 F1RWRS British Grand Prix with Lon qualifying last and barely making any process on Sunday. Lon failed to pre-qualify for the first time in his motorsport career at the 2011 F1RWRS English Grand Prix. Brands Hatch's event resulted in another DNPQ. For the 2011 F1RWRS Dutch Grand Prix, Kay Lon finally returned to the grid with a 16th place in qualifying. In a close race throughout the day, Lon worked his way up the field and passed Chris Dagnall on his way to second place on the podium, behind Gary Cameron, who controlled proceedings. Lon's awful luck with the Adalaide track came known for the first time when he failed to make the grid for the third time that season. Despite his mediocre season, Lon signed aa three-year contract with Kahama. A change of the pre-qualifying system aided Lon in making the grid for the Australian Grand Prix, where he failed to score points again. After two failures to qualify, this time at Eastern Creek and at the 2011 Surfers SuperPrix, Lon returned to the grid for the 2011 F1RWRS Chinese Grand Prix, where Lon took an impressive fourth. Lon's season ended quite anonymously with a 16th place. During the race weekend, Simon Redman's departure from Kahama and ARWS as a whole for the upcoming season was announced with Kamaha becoming a one car-effort for 2012.

2012

Despite testing not really throwing up results that were much better than Kahama's results in the Redman years, Kay Lon qualified a brilliant fifth at the 2012 F1RWRS Bavarian Grand Prix. While only being classified as seventh remained due to a collision with a careless Jeroen Krautmeir, Lon showed a decent amount of promise. The following Grand Prix weekend began with struggle as Kay just managed to make pre-qualifying as the last qualifier. However, this proved a single outlier in an otherwise great weekend, where Lon scored his second podium finish, taking the fight to Pippa Mann for the win. This happened again in Hockenheim at the 2012 F1RWRS German Grand Prix, this time battling with former F1RWRS world champion Nathanael Spencer. This second place was sufficient to take the championship lead. The third second place in the fourth German race of the calender followed at the 2012 F1RWRS Luxembourg Grand Prix, this time Lon shared the podium with Pippa Mann and Chris Dagnall, the three title contenders of the 2012 season being on one and the same podium, although Dagnall was at that time 21 points away from the British driver. The first setback followed, however, at the 2012 F1RWRS Belgian Grand Prix, where Lon only finished ninth. Luckily, Pippa Mann failed to finish at all. The three championship contenders once again aligned close to each other at the next following Grand Prix weekend with pole-setter Dagnall finishing fourth ahead of Lon and Mann. While Dagnall went on to establish his championship challenge and take the lead in said championship at his home race, Kay Lon himself only managed a sixth place, beating Pippa Mann. An accident with Frank Zimmer caused Lon to drop out of the points at the 2012 F1RWRS Kent Grand Prix. A second-place finish behind first-time F1RWRS winner Douglas Mann at the 2012 F1RWRS English Grand Prix launched him back to title contention.

Despite having grown into a possible champion, his fortunes in following Grand Prix weekend did not turn any better. After failing to qualify any better than 14th, an amateurish spin into the wall cost him dearly and ended his race. With an anonymous Pippa Mann finishing only 12th, whereas Dagnall failed to beat Nathanael Spencer. That meant that with six races to go, Lon and Dagnall were tied for second on 49 points, behind Pippa Mann. Daniel Melrose, James Davies and Douglas Mann were other possible contenders for the championship. After the setback, Kay Lon struck back at the Surfers SuperPrix, taking third place behind Chris Dagnall and rather surprising winner Gary Cameron. In a move that should prove to be fateful in the following months, Kahama signed Japanese driver Barii Mori for a second Kahama car. In a press conference before the race, Lon announced his intention of retiring from F1RWRS racing should he win the title. Coming back from sixth position, Kay Lon nearly took his first win at the New South Wales GP, coming a close second behind Ashley Watkinson, who said that "[he would] love to be teammates with him at some point". At Bathurst, all championship contenders retired in a chaotic race, leaving the situation at the top unchanged, i.e. with Kay Lon in the lead just in front of Dagnall and Mann. Dagnall equalising Lon's points tota at the ARWS Chinese Grand Prix. In the last race before the double points season finale at Laguna Seca, Lon retook the sole lead on the driver's table with a fourth place. Only two points separated the top three before the 2012 F1RWRS Indianapolis 500, which was to be the great showdown. Amongst the first three drivers, Lon had the second best qualifying pace, finishing qualifying in eight (Mann: 6th, Melrose: 10th). In an exciting race, Kay Lon lost the championship to Pippa Mann and had to surrender second place in a close battle against Dagnall that went to the flag.

During the off-season, media reports surfaced claiming that Lon suffered from depression after losing the championship. Management at Kahama would change in the off-season, Barii Mori would buy the team and become a driver-owner for the 2013 season. Despite a major staff overhaul Lon would later claim was undertaken to remove staff that sided with the German, the team was hopeful, as another year with Ford engines could see the breakthrough win happen. Kay Lon was off the pace of Mori in the first two races and found himself terminated after making his concerns public.

Castrol Jones Racing (2013)

A desperate Lon was therefore willing to join the rebirth of Jones Racing, becoming the second driver alongside team owner Sammy Jones. On their first weekend in Mexico, Kay Lon proved the potential of the new car by putting it in sixth place after dominating pre-qualifying. On race day Kay Lon became the 24th race winner in F1RWRS history, winning on his 43rd entry. Lon followed up that win by finishing second in the 2013 F1RWRS United States Grand Prix which raised speculations about his title chances and made him more boastful. After retiring in the 2013 F1RWRS United States Grand Prix, Jones Racing suffered their worst result of the season, a DNPQ in Pau. Lon accused local stewards of manipulating the timing software, claiming that it was impossible for his team to pre-qualify because of his own driver quality. Despite earning vocal criticism from the media and his competitiors, these comments eventually proved to be the inspiration for the Best In The World brand. After a number of retirements, Lon returned to the points at the 2013 F1RWRS Belgian Grand Prix despite spinning out of a promising position with a 5th place. Shortly afterwards, Kay Lon scored his final podium position with Jones Racing at the 2013 F1RWRS Chinese Grand Prix before being sacked (see Controversy).

Sunshine Infiniti (2013-2014)

Despite being caught completely off-guard by his release at the hand of Jones, Kay Lon was saved by a two-race contract with Sunshine. After suffering an engine failure in the team's home race at Autopolis, Lon managed to come back from an early spin in the final race of the season to score a second place, his tenth podium finish.

A horrible start to the 2014 season saw Kay Lon fail to finish in six consecutive races after not scoring at the 2014 F1RWRS Tasman Grand Prix. His technical problems ruined good drives in Brazil and the USA The lowest point came when Lon failed to qualify for the British Grand Prix, where he finished 27th in qualifying, behind his enemy Barii Mori. Despite a change in ownership, Lon was retained until the end of the year. Failing to score points in Germany, Lon reminded the world of his abilities at the 2014 F1RWRS Belgian Grand Prix, where he was involved in an incident with Douglas Mann and had an amazing race to come back before a faulty pitstop forced him to retire. Doing the same in Italy, Lon fell short of winning his first points of the season. Lon finally scored his first points and his first podium of the season at the Akrotiri Bay International Circuit with a second place with a third place at Zandvoort following.

Despite his questionable season, a number of teams including Scuderia Alitalia and Mitie-Aviation Racing had interest in his services. After his podium, the team announced Lon's surprising switch to Prospec, signing a one-year deal with the struggling team that won the first two constructors' titles. As Kay Lon finished out the season, scoring another six points in the final fly-away races and entering the top 10 of the drivers' championship, Fredo Mestolio was signed as his team mate for the upcoming season.

Controversy

Kay Lon was in a protracted court battle with his old team Kamaha Motorsports, which was ended after failing participation by Kamaha and a gentleman's agreement between Sunshine's team manager and Morii near the end of the 2013 season. At the end of the 2012 season, Barii Mori bought the ailing team and resigned Kay Lon for another season, however Kay Lon was not happy at the direction the team was taking and Barii Mori accused Kay Lon of driving slowly, as he was qualifying over a second off the time set by Mori, he also retired very quickly in the first two race, and was described by Kamaha staff of being disruptive to the team. After the second race of the season, Kay Lon was fired and replaced with journeyman Nicolas Steele who had been impressing in pre-qualifying in the Team Calinetic car, in qualifying in Mexico he set a time that was just a hundredth off the time set by Mori. Kay Lon has admitted in court that he had been slanderous about the team but denied all the other charges against him. The case was later settled with Shinji Zanmai.

He is also accused of sexual indecency when travelling around China and Taiwan, at least two female drivers one in Taiwan, 19 year old, Gan Wan Moore and a unnamed chinese driver have made statements to the police that Kay Lon was indecent, an arrest warrant has been issued by the police in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Kay Lon has refused to comment on this. Lon was arrested on the eve of the Chinese Grand Prix and got sentenced to a fine for indecent behaviour. The arrest of his Chinese lawyer has led to the false report of Lon himself being arrested for bribery. These events have caused Sammy Jones to release Kay Lon after a major sponsor cancelled their agreement with Castrol Jones Racing. The charges were dropped in late 2014.

Aside from these incidents, Lon has also engaged in many verbal feuds with other drivers. Lon is known to have a dislike for his former team mate Barii Mori and former Formula 1 world champion Jack Christopherson. While he also has a verbal feud with Phoenix McAllister, nobody really knows just how intense their dislike actually is given that the feud is really just a by-product of Lon's time at Jones Racing. Daniel Melrose and Kay Lon used to be opposed to each other but working together at the 2014 F1RWRS Luxembourg Grand Prix seems to have improved their relationship by a lot, even after Melrose released Lon after a single race in the 2016 season, leading to a lucrative merchandising deal between Melrose Racing Team and Best In The World.

At the 2015 F1RWRS Canadian Grand Prix, Lon against caused a ruckus by colliding with his own teammate, causing a chain reaction taking out four other drivers. During the race the German driver got drunk and got in a physical quarrel with Rosco Vantini. Lon was handed a suspended race ban for the events happening at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete F1RWRS results

(Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)