A tough weekend in Spa, Belgium, saw the Formula 3 sessions full of penalties and track limit issues before the feature race was called off due to intense rain and multiple drivers losing control of their cars.
Qualifying:
Heavy fog in Spa caused Qualifying to be pushed back over 5 hours before the racers could finally get out.
After going over the track limits, Kiwi driver Louis Sharp and four others had their first fast lap time deleted, putting pressure on them at the end of the session.
Sharp got a second lap in, right after which put him into 25th with a lap time banked.
Brad Benavides flew on his final lap, coming up from sitting in 24th to clinch his first pole position with a lap time of 2:04.253
Wildcard Freddie Slater qualified 12th, which put him on pole for the sprint race.
Sharp made it up to 20th but ultimately finished in 24th, 1.255 seconds behind Benavides with a fastest lap time of 2:05.508.
Sprint:
Sharp had a great start, which saw him get ahead of two drivers and into 22nd before dropping back one on the next lap.
On lap 3, he improved his position again by passing James Wharton and Noel Leon, who then regained the position a couple of turns later, putting him up two overall and back into 22nd.
An incident occurred between Sharp and Leon during the passing, which was investigated by the stewards, who decided no action was necessary.
Slater held the lead for the first few laps with Noah Stromsted just behind him before he was overtaken by the Danish driver, who quickly pulled ahead.
Sharp got passed again by Theophile Nael and Tuukka Taponen, putting him back into his original position of 24th.
Just afterwards, Ivan Domingues received a 5-second penalty for overusing track limits and immediately fell 5 places, dropping behind Sharp and putting the Kiwi up in 23rd.
Slater continued losing places after starting in the lead, falling out of podium position on lap 8 after being passed by Ugo Ugochukwu and Charlie Wurz. One lap later, he went wide off the track and rejoined down in 7th before dropping more places.
Sharp made a pass on a competitor for 22nd but shortly after had an issue and fell back 5 places, putting him down into 27th. He recovered two places to finish the race in 25th place.
Stromsted’s pace kept him in the lead all race and earned him his first win in F3. Ugochukwu and Wurz also held their positions and both got their first podiums.
Feature Race:
With heavy rain falling and a soaked track, the feature race was set to start under safety car.
On the formation lap, cars struggled with visibility due to the heavy spray from those in front, causing a disaster for multiple drivers.
James Hedley was the first driver to spin out, coming off the corner at Eau Rouge and running into the wall.
Brad Badoer also lost control and hit the rear of Tim Tramnitz, causing them both to spin along the straight. Tramnitz was able to recover and get moving again once the field had passed, while Badoer’s car had to be lifted off the track, forcing a red flag while the stewards waited for conditions to hopefully improve.
After over half an hour, the race was finally restarted behind the safety car with a 15-minute hard time limit.
On the outlap, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak came off the track and spun through the grass, showing that the conditions had not improved and even the mandated new wet tyres were struggling.
The field instantly went back into the pits for another red flag before the race was called off 5 minutes later. No points were awarded as the race didn’t meet the required two laps of open racing.
Louis Sharp remains 23rd in the Championship with 11 points.
The next race weekend will take place in Budapest, Hungary, on August 1st-3rd.
Header Image: James Gasperotti Photography
