Double podium delight for Buller at Spa

Having claimed a maiden Cooper Tires British F3 International Series victory at Paul Ricard earlier in the month, Northern Irish William Buller produced a dominant display at Spa to take two more British F3 podiums..The Spa weekend saw the British F3 field joined by runners from the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy, leaving nearly 30 drivers to do battle around the famous Belgium grand prix circuit.MSA Team UK-backed driver Will, originally from Scarva but now based in Northamptonshire, made a fine start to the weekend when he was quickest amongst the British F3 runners in qualifying – which determined the grid for the final race of the weekend. Will’s second quickest time was good enough for third on the grid for the opening race of the weekend.Having battled ahead of Fortec Motorsport team-mate Lucas Foresti at the opening corner, Will ran in second overall throughout the race behind FIA F3 runner Roberto Mehri. Although unable to fight the Spaniard for overall victory, Will took victory amongst the British F3 drivers having seen off the challenge of Jazeman Jaafar.Running on old tyres for the reverse grid sprint race, Will claimed tenth overall and fourth in British F3 in the second race of the weekend before taking his position in fifth for the start of the main feature race.On a slippery circuit after earlier rain, Will made it through the challenging right-hander at La Source at the start and then set about making his way up the field through the FIA F3 drivers. Working his way ahead of both Laurens Vanthoor and former British F3 title winner Marko Asmer, Will took the chequered flag in third place overall and was again the top British F3 driver – giving him a second victory of the weekend and third success in the past six races.As well as securing the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend for the second successive meeting, Will’s stunning Spa weekend has allowed him to jump up to second place in the British F3 standings ahead of his home event at Rockingham.Will is also now the top British driver in the championship with three rounds remaining this year.“It’s been another great weekend,” he said, “and after the victory at Paul Ricard, it’s fantastic to have added another two wins so quickly. We started on the back foot a bit as we struggled with the balance of the car in testing, but I nailed it in qualifying to get pole amongst the British F3 runners.“I didn’t get the best of starts in race one but was able to get into the lead of the British runners at turn one, but Mehri was just too quick ahead. I could match him through the first and last sectors, but in the middle sector, he was able to pull away. However, it was great to get a maximum score for the championship.“On old tyres, fourth in British F3 was good in the sprint race, and then in the final race, I was a bit slow away on the damp track and had to keep out of trouble through the first corner. Then I got my head down and started to make up places as the speed was really good in the car. I got up to third and was catching Wittmann ahead of me but just didn’t have enough laps to claim second.

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