Carlos Sainz Jr was supreme in the rain of Spa-Francorchamps as he won the final race of the combined British Formula 3 International Series/FIA European F3 Championship weekend.
The Spaniard hunted down pole starter Felix Serralles and, in a reversal of yesterday’s dry race, this time it was Sainz who accelerated into the lead on the run to Les Combes on the third lap.
Serralles continued to give chase to Sainz, but a spin at Pouhon relegated him to third, behind Tom Blomqvist. Even so, the Puerto Rican moves into the British F3 points lead with just three race weekends remaining.
Sainz, who also claimed fastest lap in his Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, had his lead decimated by the safety car, which emerged after Sven Muller clouted the barriers at Raidillon. But Blomqvist said that in the spray he couldn’t see well enough to get close and make a move in his Ma-Con Motorsport Dallara-VW.
“I got a good run through Eau Rouge and was able to pass Felix up to Les Combes,” said Sainz. “He started following some of my lines and started to get a bit closer, but he made a couple of mistakes and I just ran away.”
Serralles claimed a comfortable third in his Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes. His spin at Pouhon emulated an identical mistake from Daniel Juncadella three laps earlier, the Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes driver slipping from third to 10th in the process.
Juncadella recovered to eighth, allowing him to further trim the gap in the European championship to team-mate and points leader Raffaele Marciello. The Italian had clawed his way up to 11th, but was hit by Felix Rosenqvist at the Bus Stop and spun down the order.
Jazeman Jaafar again faced pressure from Carlin team-mate Jack Harvey in the battle for fourth. Harvey then lost a place to Prema man Michael Lewis at La Source with three laps remaining. His sixth place, fourth in the BF3 classification, means he loses the points lead to Serralles.
Behind them, Pipo Derani fended off Fortec team-mate Alex Lynn for a long while. Lynn then lost ground as the race wore on, allowing Harry Tincknell and Emil Bernstorff, who almost head-heated on the line, to climb into the top 10.
Among the other incidents, Double R Racing’s Geoff Uhrhane was another to crash at Raidillion, like Muller without injury.
In the National Class, Adderly Fong took an easy win in his CF Racing Dallara, humbling many of the drivers of newer cars.
Pos Driver Car Time
1. Carlos Sainz Jr. Dallara/Volkswagen 41m42.632s
2. Tom Blomqvist Dallara/Volkswagen + 5.604
3. Félix Serrallés Dallara/Mercedes + 8.667
4. Jazeman Jaafar Dallara/Volkswagen + 14.203
5. Michael Lewis Dallara/Mercedes + 15.859
6. Jack Harvey Dallara/Volkswagen + 20.823
7. Luis Derani Dallara/Mercedes + 24.563
8. D.Juncadella Dallara/Mercedes + 25.524
9. Harry Tincknell Dallara/Volkswagen + 27.172
10. Emil Bernstorff Dallara/Volkswagen + 27.187
11. Alex Lynn Dallara/Mercedes + 30.607
12. Pascal Wehrlein Dallara/Mercedes + 31.894
13. Lucas Wolf Dallara/Mercedes + 32.900
14. R.Marciello Dallara/Mercedes + 35.348
15. Nicholas McBride Dallara/Nissan + 42.717
16. Andrea Roda Dallara/Mercedes + 43.870
17. Adderly Fong Dallara/Mugen-Honda + 45.066
18. H.van Asseldonk Dallara/Mercedes + 46.361
19. Pietro Fantin Dallara/Volkswagen + 49.475
20. L.J.Sá Silva Dallara/Mercedes + 51.500
21. Fahmi Ilyas Dallara/Mercedes + 52.266
22. P.P.Calbimonte Dallara/Mugen-Honda + 55.591
23. Richard Goddard Dallara/Mugen-Honda + 56.929
24. D.Padayachee Dallara/Mugen-Honda + 1m04.247
25. Sandro Zeller Dallara/Mercedes + 1m21.861
Retirements:
Driver Car Laps
Richard Bradley Dallara/Volkswagen 11
Sven Müller Dallara/Mercedes 9
Felix Rosenqvist Dallara/Mercedes 6
Geoff Uhrhane Dallara/Mugen-Honda 4
