Sebring, FL, USA – Nick Jones kicked off his 2010 Patrón Porsche GT3 Challenge by Yokohama campaign this week with two solid finishes, 12th and ninth in class, at the 58th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Losing track time during practice after suspected gearbox problems, the Californian-racer had to dig deep in qualifying with a competitive 37 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars all vying for grid position. Despite the lack of seat time and being hindered by slower cars on his quickest lap, Jones lined up 19th in class for the first race. Competing against 24 Gold Cup runners, alongside the 13 Platinum Cup cars, Jones made a cautious start, allowing time to assess the competition under race conditions and avoid any early incidents. A couple of corners in and Jones began to progress through the field, picking off the competition until the race ended under safety car conditions, with Jones running 12th in class and setting his personal best time of the weekend to that point. For Race 2, he made a slower start from 16th on the grid when he was held up on the inside line as the field bunched up ahead into Turn 1. Once again, the 29-year-old racer found his rhythm and began picking off the runners in front. Although his tyres were past their best towards the end, Jones was closing in on eighth position when the race finished under caution. He ended his weekend with a solid ninth in class for DragonSpeed. His times tumbled throughout the weekend with his quickest, 2:12.939, posted during Race 2. “The team and I are really pleased with how I progressed over the week,” said Jones. “I came into it with less than two hours of seat time in the car and by the end I felt I had a really good hold on everything. The competition is really fierce but it's great because it really challenged and pushed me. We're now looking to pick up right where we left off at Laguna Seca in May. I know the track very well from when I raced in single-seaters, so that will be one less variable to have to contend with when we get there.” The opening round of the 2010 Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama can be viewed on SPEED TV at 12 midnight, Saturday 17 April 2010. Round Two of the series takes place at the Monterey Sports Car Championship, Monterey, California on 21-23 May 2010. << back to news