Round 12 Race Report – Spa Francorchamps
Weather: Cloudy Track: Dry
After the disappointment of failing to score his debut win yesterday Carlin Motorsport's Maro Engel stepped onto the top step of the podium for the first time in the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series. The German, starting from pole position, lost the lead at the start to Bruno Senna. Engel kept pace with the Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara and a spin by the Brazilian on lap 6 promoted him back to the top spot. A spirited drive by Mike Conway from 9th on the grid was rewarded with second place, with a recovering Senna coming back through the field to finish third.
After heavy overnight rain which caused flooding in Malmedy and Brussels, the day dawn with fog hanging over the Ardennes forest. However as race time approached the fog lifted enough to allow the race to begin without any delays.
Maro Engel, starting from pole position fro the second time this weekend, got a good start but couldn’t hold off Bruno Senna’s Mercedes powered Dallara as they headed up the hill towards Les Combes. As the cars came through the Bus Stop chicane for the first time it was Senna leading from Engel, Bakkerud and Jarvis. Championship leader Mike Conway had qualified in 9th but also suffered on the opening lap dropping back to 14th place, but then began a charge back through the field.
At the front Senna was in control but couldn’t shake off the Mugen-Honda powered Dallara of Maro Engel, who was closely followed by his two Carlin teammates. Behind the leading quartet Salvador Duran was leading Jonathan Kennard, James Walker and Round 11 winner Yelmer Buurman. On lap three these cars were nose-to-tail as they negotiated the Bus Stop chicane, hopping over the kerbs as they fought for position on the track.
Further down the field Conway was beginning his fightback and was up to 10th place by lap 3. James Walker’s weekend decidedly got worse when he was awarded a drive through penalty for a jump start, dropping the Jerseyman down from 7th to 18th place.
As the cars began the 6th lap things went wrong for Senna. On the exit of Les Combes his Dallara got sideways and while Engel missed the Brazilian, 3rd placed Christian Bakkerud collected the Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara. Bakkerud’s car was heavily damaged in the incident, which brought out the Safety Car but Senna’s car was able to get going and he rejoined in 9th place behind the safety car.
After 1 lap the race went green with Engel now leading from Jarvis and Duran. Jonathan Kennard was 4th with Mike Conway, who benefited from the Safety Car period to close up was now in 5th. As the ADR driver came into the Bus Stop for the 9th time he ran wide allowing Conway to move up a place along with Bruno Senna, who was on a charge back to the front of the field after his earlier spin.
Oliver Jarvis became the second Carlin Motorsport casualty with a fuel pump problem dropping him down the order from 2nd place, promoting Salvador Duran up a place for a short period before the Mexican was passed by the flying duo, Conway and Senna.
As the chequered flag was shown to end the 30 minute race on lap 12 it was Engel who punched the air in delight in claiming his debut win, 6.2 seconds ahead of Conway and Senna. The German’s day was complete when he collected the extra point for setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 4 with a time of 2m17.316s and an average speed of 182.88kph (113.64mph).
Mike Conway leaves Spa with an extended championship lead, 47 points ahead of Bruno Senna who moved back into 2nd place ahead of Oliver Jarvis, the Carlin driver struggling home to claim the last championship point.
The National Class podium for Round 12 was a case of Deja Vu with Rodolfo Gonzalez taking win number 10 and extending his already impressive championship lead over Cristiano Morgado and Juho Annala who finished second and third respectively.
