Jack Doohan (Invicta Virtuosi) took his second consecutive Feature Race win last weekend in Belgium adding to his race victory in Budapest the week before to put himself up to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship. Sophia Floersch (PHM Racing) and Nikola Tsolov (ART Grand Prix) also celebrated over the weekend with the pair collecting their maiden FIA Formula 3 points, Sophia, in the process, making history as the first female driver to claim points in the championship series.
Jack secured a second consecutive Feature Race win in Belgium, taking the top spot on the podium ahead of Théo Pourchaire in second. A challenging start to the weekend saw Jack qualify eleventh after a Red Flag and heavy rain saw drivers complete just one flying lap in Friday’s afternoon session. Despite starting on the backfoot for both races the Australian driver took to the challenge, climbing through the order in Saturday’s Sprint Race to finish fifth. Running on the alternate strategy in Sunday’s Feature Race Jack pitted under a well-timed Safety Car to re-join the track in second place. Battling with Pourchaire at the Safety Car restart Jack took first place from the Frenchman, collecting another haul of points to move up to fourth in the championship standings.
Sophia claimed her maiden FIA Formula 3 points in Sunday’s Feature Race, becoming the first female driver to do so in the series. After qualifying in 24th, Sophia had already impressed on Saturday to finish in twelfth. In Sunday’s Feature Race the German driver took the gamble to start on wet tyres, seeing the decision pay off she stormed through to seventh place on the first lap. Battling with those around her Sophia ultimately crossed the chequered flag in seventh, taking home six points in the championship.
It was a solid weekend for Victor Martins (ART) in FIA Formula 2 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, coming away with 15 points across the two races. Starting strong Victor finished both sessions on Friday in third, securing himself a top 10 start in both the Sprint and Feature Races. Lining up in eighth on Saturday’s reverse grid he battled his way through the order to finish in fourth pulling six seconds ahead of Jack in fifth. In Sunday’s Feature Race Victor battled with those around him to maintain his on-track position. Crossing the chequered flag in third, he ultimately finished in fifth after receiving a 5-second time penalty.
In FIA Formula 3 Gabriele Minì (Hitech) suffered from a weekend of misfortune in Belgium despite starting on the right foot. Finishing Friday’s Free Practice in sixth he went on to qualify in third during the afternoon’s session. Lining up 10th for Saturday’s reverse grid Sprint Race Gabriele held his position until contact with Josep María Martí forced him to retire from the race. Ahead of Sunday’s Feature Race the Italian driver suffered a steering column failure, running into the wall on his way to the grid which meant he was unable to start.
Nikola had a weekend of mixed results in Belgium, also collecting his maiden points in the FIA Formula 3 Championship in Saturday’s Sprint Race. Running in the top 10 for much of Friday’s afternoon session the Bulgarian driver secured his best Qualifying result with fifth place setting himself up for the remainder of the weekend. Starting in eighth for Saturday’s reverse grid Sprint Race Nikola battled with Dino Beganovic to hold his position, ultimately finishing in seventh and collecting his first points in the championship. Sunday’s Feature Race saw split strategies across the grid with Nikola taking a gamble to start on slick tyres. Unfortunately, the decision didn’t pay off with those on the wet tyre storming through the order meaning Nikola would finish the race in 17th place.
Abbi Pulling (Rodin Carlin) also competed this weekend, running in the penultimate round of the F1 Academy Series at Circuit Paul Ricard. Finishing both Free Practice sessions in second, Abbi went on to secure pole position in Qualifying 1 and second in Qualifying 2. Starting from pole in Race 1 Abbi defended her position from those behind her ultimately taking the second step on the podium. Adding to her tally the British driver has achieved six podiums across the season so far. Lining up eighth in the reverse grid for Race 2 Abbi crossed the chequered flag in seventh, however, despite finishing Race 3 in seventh also, Abbi was unfortunately disqualified due to a technical infringement on her car.
