Carlin’s Lando Norris took his third BRDC British Formula 3 Championship partnered by Duo win of the year, as he claimed victory in a shortened first race of the meeting (8/9 July) at Spa-Francorchamps. Brazilian Matheus Leist closed the gap to championship leader Ricky Collard by taking second, just ahead of his title rival who secured third to maintain his lead in the overall standings.

The race was shortened from its scheduled nine laps following a heavy accident for Chris Dittmann Racing’s Quinlan Lall after contact between the American and Lanan Racing’s Akhil Rabindra. Lall, who rolled at turn 15 before hitting the barrier, was conscious after the accident and taken to the hospital as a precaution, before being released a few hours later.

Qualifying was a tight affair with overcast conditions greeting the BRDC British Formula 3 field for the 20-minute session. The initial benchmark was set by Norris but he was shuffled back down the order as Carlin team-mate Collard posted a lap time of 2m17.388s to go fastest, with Will Palmer, making his debut in the championship this weekend, claiming second position at that point. With the order changing rapidly behind, Brazilian Matheus Leist hooked up a quick lap and fell just 0.006s short of taking provisional pole, slotting into second behind Collard.

The frenzied action continued as Palmer, the 2015 BRDC Formula 4 Champion, then went quickest in his HHC Motorsport machine, a 2m17.230s putting the 19-year-old 0.158s clear of Collard. As time ticked down, every driver was left with two more laps to make their mark and that is exactly what the Carlin duo of Norris and Collard did, as firstly the championship leader moved to the top of the timing screens on a 2m16.912s.

That gave him a comfortable margin of 0.318s over Palmer and, at that stage, looked to be the pole position lap. Norris had other ideas however and, on his final lap of the session, managed to eke out a fraction more speed from his Tatuus-Cosworth, taking the chequered flag and posting a time just 0.092s faster than Collard to claim pole position.

Norris led the field away from pole as the lights went out to start race one in the afternoon and held his lead into La Source. Collard filed in behind in second as Matheus Leist and Enaam Ahmed managed to move ahead of Will Palmer, relegating the HHC Motorsport man to fifth. Further back in the pack, there was contact between Sean Walkinshaw Racing’s Eugene Denyssen and Double R Racing’s Aleksanteri Huovinen. South African Denyssen was able to rejoin but Huovinen was out on the spot and the safety car was deployed.

After one lap under the safety car, racing resumed and Norris once again led into the first turn. However, coming out of Eau Rouge Collard managed to get in his slipstream and overtake his Carlin team-mate. The positions would be reversed shortly after however as Norris was able to pull off the same manoeuvre on Collard to retake the lead. Leist was also able to get past his championship rival Collard, and he moved into second. Back in the pack, there was contact between Sisa Ngebulana and Thomas Randle, which dropped the pair to the back of the field.

Behind the leading quartet of Norris, Leist, Collard and Enaam Ahmed, there was a fierce battle raging for fifth. Heading into the final chicane, Will Palmer came under attack from Thomas Maxwell, who dived down the inside and Toby Sowery took advantage too, slipping past the Southwater racer. Sowery then overtook Maxwell and as Palmer attempted to fight back, there was contact between himself and Maxwell through turn eight, with both having to pit at the end of the lap having suffered damage.

Collard meanwhile soon dropped to fourth as Douglas Motorsport’s Enaam Ahmed found a way past but further back, Akhil Rabindra and Quinlan Lall came together sending the Chris Dittmann Racing man into a barrel roll and heavy into the barriers at turn 15. The race was red flagged immediately, with marshals and medical staff quickly on hand. Lall was extricated from his machine and conscious following the accident. He was taken to hospital as a precaution but was released a few hours later.

The race was declared and the result taken from a lap previous, with Norris claiming the win from Leist and Collard, who gained third position back from Ahmed. In fifth was Toby Sowery ahead of Tarun Reddy and Ben Hingeley. The top-10 was completed by Al Faisal Al Zubair, Thomas Randle and Enzo Bortoleto.

The result is still being held as provisional at this stage.

Ricky Collard’s championship lead has now been cut to 17 points, with Matheus Leist moving ahead of Thomas Randle into second. The Australian is now 14 points adrift of Leist in third, with Toby Sowery fourth and Enaam Ahmed fifth.

Owing to his eighth place finish in race one, Al Faisal Al Zubair will start from pole position in tomorrow’s partially reversed-grid race two, which begins at 10:05 (09:05 BST) and you can follow all the action through live timing and updates on the official BRDC British Formula 3 website.

BRDC British Formula 3 - Spa-Francorchamps - Qualifying Top-10

1. Lando Norris, Carlin, 2m16.820s2. Ricky Collard, Carlin, +0.092s3. Will Palmer, HHC Motorsport, +0.410s4. Matheus Leist, Double R Racing, +0.574s5. Enaam Ahmed, Douglas Motorsport, +0.722s6. Thomas Maxwell, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +0.759s7. Thomas Randle, Douglas Motorsport, +0.800s8. Eugene Denyssen, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +0.806s9. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, +0.899s10. Tarun Reddy, Fortec Motorsports, +0.916s

BRDC British Formula 3 - Spa-Francorchamps - Race One Top-10

Click here for the Official Double R Racing web site - designed and built by Racecar