The BRDC British Formula 3 Championship partnered by Duo heads to the Ardenne Forest in Belgium for rounds 16, 17 and 18 of the 2016 season, as a strong grid takes on the fearsome Spa-Francorchamps circuit later this week (8/9 July).
The competitive field of 20 cars will be tested to their limits on the undulating 4.35-mile circuit with three races being held over the course of Friday and Saturday. Carlin’s British driver Ricky Collard still leads the way in the overall standings but has seen his advantage in the championship reduced to just 19 points after a tough Silverstone weekend.
Douglas Motorsport’s Thomas Randle is leading the pursuit of Collard and took a big bite out of the Brit’s lead with a runner-up finish and a strong drive to fourth place at Silverstone. Randle in turn maintains a slight advantage over Double R Racing’s Brazilian driver Matheus Leist. The 18-year-old claimed his third victory of the year at Silverstone and followed that up with a third place in the wet race two, to lie just three points adrift of Australian Randle.
Lanan Racing’s Toby Sowery continues to occupy fourth place and has some ground to make up on the trio of rivals ahead, despite taking the reverse grid win in race two of the weekend at Silverstone. Enaam Ahmed sits in fifth for Douglas Motorsport ahead of Finnish racer Aleksanteri Huovinen and Carlin’s Lando Norris, who charged from 17th to second in the wet second encounter in Northamptonshire.
Australian Thomas Maxwell, competing in his debut season of European racing, is an impressive eighth with the top-10 rounded out by Double R Racing’s Enzo Bortoleto and Fortec Motorsports’ Tarun Reddy, who was a podium finisher at Silverstone. With limited testing having taken place at Spa, the meeting is wide open and victors could come from anywhere. With long straights, fast, sweeping corners and heavy braking zones, the racing in Belgium is also set to be fast and frenetic.
Qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps gets underway at 11:25 (10:25 BST) on Friday, with race one following at 14:45. Saturday’s action begins with the partially reversed-grid race two at 10:05 with lights out to start the third and final race of the meeting at 15:35.
As always you can watch all the action from Spa-Francorchamps through the one-hour long highlights programme which is broadcast on ITV4 one week after the meeting, or you can follow live timing and updates through the official BRDC British Formula 3 website.
BRDC British Formula 3 Championship partnered by Duo standings - Top-10 after race 14
1. Ricky Collard, Carlin, 298 points2. Thomas Randle, Douglas Motorsport, 279 points3. Matheus Leist, Double R Racing, 276 points4. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, 259 points5. Enaam Ahmed, Douglas Motorsport, 222 points6. Aleksanteri Huovinen, Double R Racing, 177 points7. Lando Norris, Carlin, 175 points8. Thomas Maxwell, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, 161 points9. Enzo Bortoleto, Double R Racing, 159 points10. Tarun Reddy, Fortec Motorsports, 148 points
Click here for the Official Double R Racing web site - designed and built by Racecar
