Formula 2

Sprint Race:

After a close qualifying session around Spa-Francorchamps, which saw Paul Aron claim an important Pole Position for Hitech Pulse-Eight meaning he would start ahead of his championship rivals, all eyes were on the start of Saturday’s Sprint race.

The original start time came and went due to extreme levels of rainfall across the circuit. After 50 minutes of delays to the beginning of the starting procedure, with all cars kept in the pitlane and only the safety car sat on the start/finish straight, race control announced the postponement of the race. It was eventually confirmed that the start would be postponed until 18:25 local time in Belgium.

When the race eventually started, reverse pole-sitter Zak O’Sullivan retained his lead going into Turn 1, with all drivers showing caution around the opening lap as the spray from the cars on track saw the visibility decreased. Hauger followed in second with Verschoor filtering in for third place. On the entrance into Les Combes, Zane Maloney saw a gap and was able to dive down the outside of Franco Colapinto to take fourth place.

Ollie Bearman was amongst the biggest winners on the opening lap, in which after gaining six places already, rounded Championship leader Isack Hadjar at the penultimate corner to move himself up into eighth.

Onto Lap 2, Jak Crawford had managed to take fifth place from Franco Colapinto on the run up to Eau Rouge, which ultimately left the MP Motorsport driver to defend himself against a charging Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Lap 3 saw the PREMA Racing driver make a bold move, going side-by-side into Eau Rouge to take sixth place from Colapinto, with Bearman following his teammate through heading down the Kemmel Straight.

Later in the lap, the Virtual Safety Car was called to neutralise the racing as the car of Red Bull junior driver Pepe Marti had stopped on track. The VSC was eventually upgraded to a full Safety Car due to positioning of the immobile Campos Racing machinery, effectively bunching up the rest of the grid as marshal’s made their way out onto track to safely recover Marti’s car.

With Marti’s car eventually cleared from the track, the Saefty Car continued to circulate the track as the weather conditions continue to worsen on track. Lap 7 quickly came around, and with no change to the weather likely in the near future, the Red Flag was called, with all drivers returning to the pits.

It wasn’t long after that the call came from the stewards to stop the race and not continue, ending the Sprint Race after just seven laps and handing the win to O’Sullivan ahead of Hauger and Verschoor. 

Due to the grid having completed over 25% but not 50% on the distance required, only the top five were awarded points, with these points being heavily reduced. O’Sullivan took home five championship points, with one less awarded to each subsequent driver. Maloney and Crawford rounded the points-scoring positions in fourth and fifth respectively, after gaining ground over the last few racing laps before the Safety Car.

Feature Race:

Isack Hadjar took the chequered flag in first place in Sunday’s Feature Race to take his fourth race win of the season around Spa-Francorchamps. The Frechman finished ahead of Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto and DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford who rounded out the podium.

Five light outs and away the F2 grid went, with pole-sitter Paul Aron having an amazing launch off the line going into Turn 1 leading from Bortoleto, however, going into the Kemmel Straight, Isack Hadjar was ble to utilise the slipstream created by the Invicta driver to pass for second place at Les Combes.

Back down the grid Zane Maloney had a slow start in comparison to the pole-sitter, starting in sixth on the grid and falling down the order going into the first corner, eventually ending up between Oliver Bearman and Pepe Marti. Bearman seemed to receive a tap which caused him to spin and collect the Campos of Marti, resulting in both cars being out of the running.

Further ahead on track, issues for Colapinto saw his car come to a halt at Malmedy, leading to an early retirement for the Brazilian, and the race was further neautralised by the Safety Car, which was called for the safe recovery of all three cars.

Lap 4 saw racing resumed, with Paul Aron getting a near-perfect restart which would see him keep the lead, however, the Safety Car retook the track straight away after a crash between Rafael Villagomez and Victor Martins. 

The Van Amersfoort Racing driver went wide on track at the second part of Les Combes after a battle with Taylor Barnard, before dipped a wheel into the gravel and spinning. As a result of the spin, Villagomez found himself in the path of an innocent Victor Martins, with both drivers quickly finding the barriers. Martins and Villagomez were okay, whereas both cars needed to be recovered by the marshals.

Racing once again resumed on Lap 7, with Aron continuing to hold onto his lead but after this restart Hadjar was in close company in P2. DRS was re-enabled on Lap 8, with Hadjar making quick work on getting a slipstream and passing his title rival whilst taking the lead along the Kemmel Straight.

Aron was called in for his mandatory pit stop at the end of this lap, whilst Hadjar stayed out, before the Frenchman was called into the pits on Lap 10. Hadjar exited the pits just ahead of the Hitech Pulse-Eight of Aron, however, this was short-lived as the Estonian driver soon closed the gap and retook the lead of the race. Bortoleto who had pitted two laps later had also come within range of the pair, with the challenge for the lead now becoming a 3-man battle.

Enzo Fittipaldi saw heartbreak at the Feature Race, as result of stalling the car during the pit stop and the being unable to restart the car again, consequently having to retire from the race.

With the net-lead for the race changing hands multiple times during the second-half of the race, the final lap was nothing short of dramatic, with Aron slowing to a halt on the Kemmel Straight and having to retire from the race, after previously battling for a podium place.

Hadjar crossed the line victorious by over two seconds to second-place Bortoleto, adding a fourth podium to his 2024 season. Crawford took third on the podium in his DAMS Lucas Oil car, with Zak O’Sullivan taking fourth for ART and Verschoor taking fifth after being on the alternative strategy.

The Rodin Motorsport duo of Maloney and Miyata took sixth and seventh place respectively, ahead of Amaruy Cordeel who took eighth at his home race, with Antonelli and Joshua Duerksen rounding out the final points positions in ninth and 10th respectively.

Formula 3

Sprint Race:

Formula 3 put on a show-stopping performance on their penultimate race weekend, with a PREMA Racing battle between Dino Beganovic and Championship leader Gabriel Mini seeing the Swedish driver take victory in Belgium.

It was a PREMA front row lock-out with Beganovic on pole, that it was the second PREMA of Mini that took the lead of the race going into Turn 1. Behind the pair, Tim Tramnitz had passed Santiago Ramoz to take P3, whilst Arvid Lindblad was one of the biggest winners of the first lap, climbing from P27 to P16.

The Safety Car made an early visit to the track, quickly neutralising racing asa  result of Jenzer Motorsport’s Max Esterson making contact with the barrier at Eau Rouge after a slow spin. The American was okay, and racing resumed at the end of Lap 3.

Lap 5 saw battles galore, with Tramnitz coming under pressure from Ramos and Leon, and whilst he able to hold onto P3, Luke Browning lost out on his respective battle with Sebastian Montoya for sixth position after running wide at Turn 4. His bad luck continued as the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver came under pressure from Sami Meguetounif, with both drivers running wide on the entry to Les Combes, with the Frenchman coming out on top and taking P7.

The top six from Beganovic to Montoya were all within two and a half seconds of each other as they started Lap 9 of 12, with Mini being told that he was allowed to race and put pressure on his teammate. With DRS available, Mini was coming under pressure from Tramnitz for second place, which as they battled allowed Beganovic to put a gap of one second over his teammate.

On the start of the penultimate lap of the race the gap between the two PREMA Racing teammate had closed once again, whilst Tramnitz had dropped back and was now battling against Leon for the final step of the podium. 

The final lap of the race saw Beganovic and Mini now with a two second advantage over the rest of the grid, however Leon managed to pass Tramnitz at the Kemmel Straight to take P3.

Dino Beganovic eventually crossed the line first to take his second victory of the 2024 season, with Mini following him in second for a PREMA 1-2 finish, and Leon taking the chequered flag in third place.

Tramnitz took P4 ahead of Mexican driver Santiago Ramos and his Trident teammate Meguetounif (although the French rookie would eventually be dropped dwon to P28 post-race for multiple track limit infringements).

This post-race penalty meant Browning finished sixth ahead of Montoya in seventh, with Fornaroli taking P8. Campos Racing’s Oliver Goethe finished ninth, whilst Feature Race pole-sitter Callum Voisin took the final point in P10.

Feature Race:

Callum Voisin put on a stellar show at Spa-Francorchamps to convert his pole-position into his maiden Formula 3 Victory in Sunday’s Feature Race.

A great start from lights out for Voisin saw him retain the lead going into the first corner, with Montoya jumping from fourth place to second. Fellow front row starter Alexander Dunne had a slow start in comparison to others around him dropping to fourth whilst Fornaroli maintained third place.

Behind the front runners, a collision between Oliver Goethe and Gabriele Mini saw the Italian driver drop to the back of the field, with the contact turning around the PREMA Racing driver, whilst the Campos of Goethe was forced to pit with a puncture.

At the start of Lap 2, Voisin suffered a big lock-up heading into Turn 1, with Montoya and Fornaroli right on his tail. He was able to keep ahold of the position, however Noel Leon lost P5 to Sami Meguetounif down the Kemmel Straight.

The first Safety Car of the race was called on Lap 3 to neutralise racing as a result of Martinius Stenshorne spinning at Stavelot. Tuukka Taponen saw his debut for ART Grand Prix – as a result of Nikita Tsolov being banned from racing at the Spa-Francorchamps round for racing without permission at the same track but in a different series – cut short after a separate incident coming into the corner in which he collided with Joshua Dufek before spinning into the side of the McLaren Junior driver.

Racing resumed on Lap 7, with Voisin having a great restart to retain his lead ahead of Montoya and Fornaroli, whilst Meguetounif continued his charging pace as he overtook Dunne down the Kemmel Straight to take fourth position.

The second Safaety Car of the race soon followed, as racing was once again neutralised after a collision between Sophia Floersch and Joseph Loake, saw both drivers spin off the track at Turn 9, with the Van Amersfoort Racing car of Floersch stuck in the gravel and the latter able to continue.

The race once again restarted on Lap 10 and Voisin continued his streak of good starts, however Dunne seemed the biggest loser of the restart dropping from P5 to P10.

The third Safety Car once again came quickly after another collision, this time between Christian Mansell and Arvid Linblad, saw the Australian ART Grand Prix driver make contact with the rear of the PREMA, sending Lindblad into the gravel at Turn 9.

Simultaneously, Charlie Wurz made contact with the rear right tyre of Mari Boya, giving the Campos Racing driver a puncture, before colliding with the barrier at Turn 11. The Austrian driver was then called into the pits to replace his damaged front wing.

Voisin made it four clean starts as green flag conditions came back into effect on Lap 14, with Montoya and Fornaroli following behind him. Onto the final lap and the British driver managed to build a lead of nearly one second as he crossed the finish line to take his maiden victory in Formula 3, with Montoya finishing in second, whilst Fornaroli finished third to take the lead of the Drivers’ Championship heading into the final race weekend.

Leon finished fourth ahead of Trident Motorsport’s Meguetounif, whilst Luke Browning finished sixth for Hitech Pulse-Eight, ahead of Max Esteron. Santiago Ramos finished in eighth to ensure all three Trident cars were in the points, with Tim Tramnitz and Alexander Dunne rounding out the points.

The first champions were crowned at the end of this race, as even without scoring, PREMA Racing had too big of a gap to their next championship contenders, and took the title of 2024 FIA Formula 3 Team Champions with the final round in Monza still to come.