The biggest international Formula 3 field of the season provided a pair of thrilling races today at Spa-Francorchamps, with contenders from the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy joining their Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series colleagues at the Belgian Grand Prix circuit to swell the grid to 28.

The first of the day’s races was won in convincing style by Roberto Merhi for the Prema Powerteam, the Spaniard pursued home by Fortec’s Will Buller, who claimed the British F3 victory. The 20-minute sprint went the way of Carlin’s Kevin Magnussen who, like Merhi, led from pole position to chequered flag.

Round 19 reportMerhi swept to a commanding FIA Formula 3 International Trophy win this morning, with Ulsterman Buller following him home for the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series victory.

Prema Powerteam racer Merhi assumed command of the race from pole position, sweeping into the lead at La Source, pursued by Buller, who had outdragged his Fortec team-mate Lucas Foresti away from the line. That would be as close as Buller would get to Merhi for the rest of the race; Roberto led him across the line at the end of lap one by 2.9s and increased his advantage with every lap to win by 12.4s.

“Everything went right today,” said Merhi. “I started from pole because I set best time in qualifying by more than one second, and we made some changes to the car which made it even better for the race. I set fastest lap and after that I pushed to build the gap to my rivals. I always enjoy racing here, it’s an incredible circuit, and to win a race at Spa is a great feeling.”

Paul Ricard second-race winner Buller kept a determined Jazeman Jaafar behind him all the way to the line and was pleased with his efforts: “Paul Ricard was good for me, and now this is my third podium in a row, so I’m happy. We struggled quite a bit in free practice yesterday with the balance but we chipped away at it. There is a still a bit of work to do there. To get my first main-race ‘win’ is nice and I hope things keep going like this.”

Jaafar profited from a mercurial start from ninth on the grid, and from a first-corner collision between Foresti and Marco Wittmann, to plough through to third on the opening lap. Coming after a heavy crash in practice yesterday, in which he bruised a knee, it was a pleasing result: “We worked hard to find the best set-up, and I made a good start to get to P3 by the first corner, so a good job from the team and I am quite pleased with myself. My knee hurt a lot yesterday but ice treatment has helped.”

Foresti’s La Source bump clearly affected his car, the Brazilian slipping from fourth on the opening lap to sixth behind Carlos Munoz and Jack Harvey next time around. Lucas’s progress thereafter was retrograde also; he crossed the line 13th, two spots behind Wittmann.

Munoz finished fourth overall, and third in FIA F3 terms behind Merhi and Jaafar, with Harvey fifth overall to collect the final place on the British F3 podium. Rupert Svendsen-Cook overhauled his Carlin team-mate Kevin Magnussen for sixth overall mid-race, with Daniel Juncadella following Magnussen home for eighth despite the mid-race distraction of his car filling with fire extinguishant.

The remaining British F3 points places were filled respectively by championship leader Felipe Nasr and his team-mate Carlos Huertas, Foresti, SVR’s Hywel Lloyd and Double R man Scott Pye.

Hitech’s Kotaro Sakurai claimed the Rookie class win, and overhauled the points total of his erstwhile class mate Bart Hylkema in the process. International class recruit Hylkema retired his T-Sport car early on, as did his team-mate Menasheh Idafar. The returning 2007 champion, Marko Asmer, crashed out spectacularly at the Bus Stop chicane on lap four.

Round 20 reportThe luck which has so often gone against Kevin Magnussen in the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series this season turned in his favour at Spa-Francorchamps this afternoon, the Dane claiming a deserved victory for Carlin in the second race of the championship’s Belgian weekend.

Magnussen, who had finished seventh in this morning’s race, was bestowed pole position by the podium draw for the 20-minute ‘reverse grid’ sprint race, and he did not waste the opportunity, making an excellent start to lead into La Source hairpin and then showing his pursuers a clean pair of heels.

By the end of the first lap Kevin was 1.9s ahead of his closest challenger, the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy contender Daniel Juncadella, and the gap between Magnussen and the pack grew with nearly every lap to reach 2.6s by the chequered flag.

“Maybe my luck has turned a little bit,” said Magnussen, whose fourth win it was. “I have needed some luck for a long time now. I’m happy for the win and happy to have turned the weekend around. I have saved my good tyres for the race tomorrow, so hopefully I can go well then too.”

Juncadella’s Prema Powerteam Dallara made a brilliant start from eighth on the grid to wrest second from Carlin man Rupert Svendsen-Cook, who started P2, on the opening lap, but Rupert fought back next time around to regain the position and shadow Magnussen to the line, with Daniel in tow for third overall and a class win.

Said Svendsen-Cook: “That’s four podiums in four weekends now and I’m very happy. Qualifying was crazy: I was stuck with a car set up for the wet, on wet tyres on a dry track. To come back with fourth this morning and second this afternoon is really good. Our pace is evident.”

“Everything went well,” said Juncadella. “My start was very good; I was already fourth after the first corner, and then I made it to P3 when two cars ahead hit each other, and then I passed Rupert at the final corner of the first lap. I was probably running a little more downforce than the others, so Rupert overtook me again and I had to stay behind him because I needed his slipstream on the straights.”

Dutch driver Hannes van Asseldonk was a star of the show, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver starting 12th and battling through to sixth by mid-distance. He set three successive fastest laps on the way past Carlos Munoz and Marco Wittmann to claim fourth overall, with Wittmann, Munoz and Belgium’s Laurens Vanthoor in line astern.

Eighth overall - and third in the British F3 stakes - was championship leader Felipe Nasr, whose Carlin car benefited from an engine change after race one. “We had a problem with the engine, it was running on only three cylinders in the first race,” said Nasr. “So in this race it was important to try to get some good points.”

Daniel Abt placed ninth and William Buller headed home Carlos Huertas for 10th overall (and fourth place in British F3), with Jack Harvey next up from Lucas Foresti, Pietro Fantin (another to have to change an engine), Roberto Merhi, Jazeman Jaafar and Double R’s Scott Pye. Jaafar and Merhi clashed on the opening lap but recovered; less fortunate were Fortec team-mates Harry Tincknell and Fahmi Ilyas, who collided at the Bus Stop on the third lap, leading to both men’s retirements.

Kotaro Sakurai duly collected his eighth Rookie class victory.

Tomorrow’s Spa finale, the 40-minute feature race, is scheduled for 1240pm local time (1140am UK), and will be screened live on Motors TV. British Formula 3 enjoys the headlining support of Cooper Tires and is additionally backed by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and OAMPS.

Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International SeriesRound 19, Spa-Francorchamps BEL 29/7/201113 laps / 56.58 miles

Provisional results Championship & Invitation classes1  INV Robert MERHI / ESP,  Prema Dallara-Mercedes  29m 18.572s / 115.82mph2  INT William BULLER /GBR,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  +12.846s3  INT Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS,  Carlin Dallara-VW  +13.486s4  INV Carlos MUNOZ / COL,  Signature Dallara-VW  +14.410s5  INT Jack HARVEY / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-VW  +15.005s6  INT Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-VW  +16.378s7  INT Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN,  Carlin Dallara-VW  +16.912s8  INV Daniel JUNCADELLA / ESP,  Prema Dallara-Mercedes  +22.360s9  INT Felipe NASR / BRA,  Carlin Dallara-VW  +25.511s10  INT Carlos HUERTAS / COL,  Carlin Dallara-VW  +30.999s11  INV Marco WITTMANN / GER,  Signature Dallara-VW  +32.627s12  INV Hannes van ASSELDONK / NED,  Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW  +32.982s13  INT Lucas FORESTI / BRA,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  +34.351s14  INV Daniel ABT / GER,  Signature Dallara-VW  +35.452s15  INT Hywel LLOYD / GBR,  Sino Vision Dallara-Mercedes  +36.017s16  INT Scott PYE / AUS,  Double R Dallara-Mercedes  +37.502s etc

Rookie class1  Kotaro SAKURAI / JPN,  Hitech Dallara-Mugen Honda  +1m 16.779s

Fastest laps Merhi 2m 14.403s / 116.57 mph & Magnussen 2m 14.732s / 116.26mph

Round 208 laps / 34.82 miles

Provisional results Championship & Invitation classes1  INT Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN,  Carlin Dallara-VW  18m 12.965s / 114.70mph2  INT Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-VW  +2.614s3  INV Daniel JUNCADELLA / ESP,  Prema Dallara-Mercedes  +3.369s4  INV Hannes van ASSELDONK / NED,  Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW  +4.245s5  INV Marco WITTMANN / GER,  Signature Dallara-VW  +6.118s6  INV Carlos MUNOZ / COL,  Signature Dallara-VW  +7.143s7  INV Laurens VANTHOOR / BEL,  Signature Dallara-VW  +7.862s8  INT Felipe NASR / BRA,  Carlin Dallara-VW  +8.485s9  INV Daniel ABT / GER,  Signature Dallara-VW  +13.043s10  INT William BULLER /GBR,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  +14.563s11  INT Carlos HUERTAS / COL,  Carlin Dallara-VW  +14.866s12  INT Jack HARVEY / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-VW  +15.177s13  INT Lucas FORESTI / BRA,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  +17.934s14  INT Pietro FANTIN / BRA,  Hitech Dallara-VW  +18.811s15  INV Robert MERHI / ESP,  Prema Dallara-Mercedes  +19.964s16  INT Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS,  Carlin Dallara-VW  +24.116s17  INT Scott PYE / AUS,  Double R Dallara-Mercedes  +26.246s etc

Rookie class1  Kotaro SAKURAI / JPN,  Hitech Dallara-Mugen Honda  +50.402s

Fastest laps  van Asseldonk 2m 15.525s / 115.57mph &Svendsen-Cook 2m 15.828s / 115.33mph

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