Thomas Randle and Lando Norris both came through from outside of the front two rows to take victory in races two and three of the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship weekend at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday (9 July). Australian Randle charged through from ninth to take a superb reverse-grid race win in the morning before Norris saw the chequered flag first, having started fifth, in the final encounter in Belgium.

After finishing eighth in race one on Friday, Fortec Motorsports’ Al Faisal Al Zubair lined up on pole position for race two, with HHC Motorsport’s Ben Hingeley for company on the front-row. As the lights went out however, it was third placed man Tarun Reddy who made the best getaway, slicing past his two rivals in front to take the lead.

Reddy’s fellow second row starter Toby Sowery also made plenty of forward progress, taking advantage of the slow starting Al Zubair and Hingeley to move into second. He was soon on to the back of Reddy and took the lead with a clean move down the inside of the Indian into the final chicane.

Further back, Enaam Ahmed took third with Australian Thomas Randle making up two positions at La Source, and a further two places through Eau Rouge and the Kemmel Straight to jump up to fifth, having started ninth. That provided him with a platform to challenge for the win and he kept up his momentum by jumping up to fourth on the first circuit.

The action continued after the opening couple of laps with Randle looking in a feisty mood after his disappointing race one. He closed on the back of his Douglas Motorsport team-mate Ahmed for third and after a good battle, made the pass down the Kemmel Straight to move into the final podium spot.

At the head of the field, Sowery and Reddy were busy scrapping for the lead with the Indian retaking first position. Lanan Racing’s Sowery was able to fight back once more though and pulled off a move down the Kemmel Straight to take the lead once more. That battle however enabled third-placed Randle to make it a three-way fight for the win and he wasted little time disposing of Reddy to move into second.

With three laps remaining, Sowery held a lead of 1.6s over Randle but the Australian began to eat into that, taking nearly half-a-second out of the Lanan Racing man on the next lap. As the BRDC British Formula 3 field began its final tour, Randle was close enough to challenge and he got a good run out of Eau Rouge, slipstreaming past Sowery down the long Kemmel Straight to claim the lead. He managed to see out the final half of the lap without any dramas to take the chequered flag and his second BRDC British Formula 3 victory of the year.

Sowery took second, with Tarun Reddy holding off the charging Ahmed to complete the podium in third. Fifth place went to Leist, who finished ahead of Collard and the HHC Motorsport pairing of Sisa Ngebulana and Ben Hingeley. The top-10 was completed by Al Faisal Al Zubair and Enzo Bortoleto.

The fine weather continued into race three and Will Palmer, who was making his BRDC British Formula 3 debut at Spa with HHC Motorsport, lined up on pole by virtue of setting the fastest lap from across the first two races. He had Double R Racing’s Matheus Leist alongside him on the front-row, with the Brazilian looking to cut into the 15-point lead that Ricky Collard had over him in the overall standings heading into the race.

As the lights went out, it was Leist who made the best getaway, but only marginally, and Palmer was able to fend him off through La Source. Leist ran wide on the exit but was able to rejoin in second. It did however give Ricky Collard in third a chance to attack down the Kemmel Straight, which he duly took to move into second.

On the second lap though, Collard was bumped back down the order as his Carlin team-mate Norris slipped by with Leist following him through. Having started fifth, Norris continued to push and was quickly on to the gearbox of race leader Will Palmer. The 2015 BRDC Formula 4 Champion was able to defend his lead on the first lap that Norris attempted a move, but couldn’t resist the 16-year-old on the next tour, relinquishing the lead down the Kemmel Straight.

Norris was able to build a gap to Palmer at the front, and last year’s McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner soon found himself under pressure from Leist. The Brazilian was extremely quick through Eau Rouge and was able to slipstream past Palmer to take second, and he immediately set about closing the gap to leader Norris. With three laps to go, he had the deficit down to 0.567s but couldn’t quite stay close enough to the Carlin driver through Eau Rouge to make an attack.

The action continued down the order however as Collard was coming under heavy pressure from both race two winner Thomas Randle and Lanan Racing’s Toby Sowery. As the field headed on to its final lap, Randle and Sowery both got a run on Collard with Randle moving past. Sowery meanwhile pulled off a magnificent move to go past both Randle and Collard. That put the Lanan man in fourth, ahead of Randle in fifth with Collard relegated down two positions to sixth on one straight.

Up front, the gap between Norris and Leist held at around half-a-second but the Double R man was unable to mount a serious attempt to overtake the leader. That left Norris clear to complete the final few corners and take the chequered flag for his second BRDC British Formula 3 victory in Belgium, his fourth overall for the year.

In the championship battle, Matheus Leist has reduced the gap to Ricky Collard to just four points, with six races remaining in the 2016 season. Thomas Randle is a further 15 points behind in third with Toby Sowery and Enaam Ahmed maintaining their respective positions in fourth and fifth.

The next round of the 2016 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship partnered by Duo takes place at Snetterton on 6/7 August.

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

1. Thomas Randle, Douglas Motorsport, 9 Laps2. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, +0.469s3. Tarun Reddy, Fortec Motorsports, +3.696s4. Enaam Ahmed, Douglas Motorsport, +3.882s5. Matheus Leist, Double R Racing, +4.096s6. Ricky Collard, Carlin, +4.551s7. Sisa Ngebulana, HHC Motorsport, +8.424s8. Ben Hingeley, HHC Motorsport, +9.430s9. Al Faisal Al Zubair, Fortec Motorsports, +10.568s10. Enzo Bortoleto, Double R Racing, +10.685s

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

1. Lando Norris, Carlin, 9 Laps2. Matheus Leist, Double R Racing, +0.508s3. Will Palmer, HHC Motorsport, +3.065s4. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, +8.561s5. Thomas Randle, Douglas Motorsport, +8.881s6. Ricky Collard, Carlin, +10.187s7. Thomas Maxwell, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +10.694s8. Eugene Denyssen, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +11.076s*9. Tarun Reddy, Fortec Motorsports, +11.806s10. Ben Hingeley, HHC Motorsport, +15.200s

*Handed a one-second time penalty for gaining an unfair advantage

2016 BRDC British Formula 3 standings after race 18 of 24

1. Ricky Collard, Carlin, 354 points2. Matheus Leist, Double R Racing, 350 points3. Thomas Randle, Douglas Motorsport, 335 points4. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, 321 points5. Enaam Ahmed, Douglas Motorsport, 263 points6. Lando Norris, Carlin, 247 points7. Tarun Reddy, Fortec Motorsports, 197 points8. Enzo Bortoleto, Double R Racing, 190 points=. Thomas Maxwell, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, 190 points10. Aleksanteri Huovinen, Double R Racing, 188 points

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