Liam Lawson survives a tense moment off the assembly line and a late safety car, drives far And grabbed the advantage in the Spa-Francorchamps sprint race. When the lights went out, the Carlin rider took his chance and narrowly avoided disaster, jumping from fifth to first on the opening lap and never looked back.
Jack Doohan turned left to the last second and finished second for his fifth podium of his rookie season while Ralph Beauchamp was recovering from injury Bravely insisted on taking third place home after his comeback. Championship leader Felipe Drugovich, however, set the track on fire with four laps remaining, opting to soft-pack under the safety car and go from P12 to P4.
Richard Verschoor’s Théo Pourchaire finished 6th and the Survival Race finished 5th. Marcus Armstrong made a lot of early moves, starting 12th and finishing 7th, while David Beckman, Ayumu Iwasa and Dennis Hauge rounded out the top 10.
when it happens
in cold and dry conditions , mist shrouded the Belgian hills and there were many unknowns heading into the weekend after a lack of competition in the highly disrupted practice session on Friday morning. After the injury, Jehan Daruvala’s day came to an early end as the PREMA racer stopped on the scouting lap before the lights even went out.
Daruvala’s absence opened the door for someone to slip through the P2 gap, with fifth-placed Lawson exuding confidence as he came off the line. Digging his toes into the grass to avoid a slow Pourchaire start, the New Zealander immediately jumped into second and put pressure on Boschung, who held onto the lead with a textbook run away.
Unfortunately for Swiss drivers, the Belgian circuit has no shortage of overtaking opportunities. Carlin, in a Red Bull uniform, drove into P1 along the Kemer straight on the back of the race leader. He wasn’t the only one taking advantage of the slipstream as Pourchaire, Verschoor and Doohan scored three points, but it was Trident and Virtuosi who managed to get the better of the black and white ART car and get Pourchaire and his championship rivals out of his seat. in the mirror.
The battle ahead quickly turned into a two-horse race, with Verschoor falling behind Lawson and Boschung who insisted on staying within the DRS of the race leaders. Not satisfied Standing outside of the podium, Doohan decided enough was enough and slid past Verschoor into P3.
This made the Dutchman a cork in a bottle and a sizable train formed behind him all the way down to P10 and forced him into a survival race. Pourchaire wanted to get ready for the final corner, but he found his left front tire and Verschoor held onto the position knowing that his strategy depended on him staying firm for as long as possible.
However, the story of the race changed dramatically on lap 11. Logan Sargeant lost his rear end at the Pouhon exit and slid into the guardrail, triggering the safety car. With plenty to lose, Drugovich and MP Motorsport risked a pit stop for new software, dropping him from sixth to 12th.
Informed on the radio that he would run 4 seconds per lap faster than the driver in front, the Brazilian driver’s sacrifice was immediately rewarded and the race restarted on lap 15, at the same The lap overtook his teammates Clement Novarak and Yuri Vepps before Pinezo Fittipaldi finished ninth. Move left, right and center, and no one can stop the orange car looting on the order. Even his nearest title rival, Pourchaire, was a sitting duck as Drugovich used his extra grip to overtake him into the final chicane to finish fifth.
, extending his lead zone by zone to 3.8 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor as Doohan saved his best for the final blow past Boschung and put Campos Racing The driver dropped to third place.
After enabling DRS on the final lap, this gave Drugovich extra traction as he needed to slide past Verschoor on the inside of the Rivage and finish fourth and try to narrow down to the lead trio difference. However, regardless of his momentum, there was no more time – the checkered flag left the MP car in fourth place.
Key Quotes – Liam Lawson, Carlin
“Just finished the sprint at Spa, started very well from 5th and was second at turn 1 – Jehan (Daruvala) didn’t start so it was a free place there. The first few laps, the car Was really hooked and managed to get past Ralf (Boschung) and then honestly throughout the race it was really, really stable and beautiful. Thanks so much Karin, the car is really good, obviously All the positives can be brought into tomorrow’s Grand Prix.”
Championship View
Felipe Drukovic slightly extended his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 25 points over Theo Purchare despite being behind him on the grid. Logan Sargeant and Enzo Fittipaldi were third and fourth with 119 and 100 points respectively, but the victory lifted Liam Lawson to fifth, just one point behind the Charouz Racing System driver.
No change The ART Grand Prix continues to lead the team with 253 points, with Carlin in second with 35 points. MP Motorsport finished third on 213, ahead of Hitech Grand Prix and PREMA Racing.
What’s next
When 10:20 local time lights When extinguished, Felipe Drugovich will be looking to further cement his lead in the championship standings as he sits on pole in Sunday’s close-up race.
