The oft luckless Kevin Magnussen claimed his fourth British Formula 3 win of the season at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Dane garnered pole following the qualifying draw after the opening race and used the advantage to its fullest to bag ten points.
It brings Magnussen closer to an increasingly ferocious battle for 2nd in the Championship – a fight that also includes teammates Carlos Huertas, Jazeman Jaafar and Rupert Svendsen-Cook.
Fortec’s Lucas Foresti and William Buller are also preparing themselves to fight for runner-up honours.
A clean start edged Magnussen away from the chasing pack, although the margin was still a somewhat tight 2.6 seconds come the chequered flag.
Svendsen-Cook kept his Carlin stablemate in his sights, but was unable to pressure him into any mistakes. For his pleasure, Svendsen-Cook had International F3 Trophy driver Daniel Juncadella close to him for the duration.
Juncadella great start (from 8th on grid) to jump ahead of svendsen-cook on the opening lap; however the Briton repassed the F3 Euroseries regular to garner the 2nd spot.
Despite this, 3rd overall was enough to give Juncadella victory in the International Trophy class ahead of Hannes van Asseldonk (4th, van Amersfoort) and Signature trio Marco Wittmann (5th), Carlos Munoz (6th) and Laurens Vanthoor (7th).
Juncadella led the Euroseries train covered by just over four seconds, bringing the Spaniard closer to International Trophy leader Roberto Mehri.
Mehri’s fate was taken out of his own hands. The Prema Powerteam driver was hit by Jazeman Jaafar on the opening lap, dropping both down the order. By the end of the race, Mehri had climbed to 15th and Jaafar 16th; however the Malaysian was later excluded from the results.
Van Asseldonk drove a fantastic race to assume his 4th position. The Dutch pilot slowly climbed the order through the British F3 runners, eventually taking Wittmann and Munoz in the late stages.
Both Munoz and Wittmann had somewhat contrasting races, with Munoz dropping to 5th after starting on the second row, while Wittmann climbed to an impressive 6th despite being 11th on the grid.
Vanthoor also had an impressive run. The Belgian raced to 8th after after lining up 17th, before nailing British F3 Series leader, Felipe Nasr, on the penultimate tour.
Nasr did finish to claim 8th (and 3rd in the British F3 class) – a solid result considering the Brazilian started on old tyres.
Invitational pilot Daniel Abt finished 9th ahead of British F3 runner William Buller (10th, Fortec). Buller edged Carlos Huertas (11th, Carlin) out of the points by a mere three-tenths at the line, with F3 rookie Jack Harvey a further 0.311 of-a-second in arrears.
Neither Harry Tincknell nor Fahmi Ilyas finished the race. The Fortec teammates removed themselves from the action on the third lap,
Marko Asmer and Menasheh Idafar also retired from proceedings before halfway, making for a miserable opening day for both pilots.
Kotaro Sakurai again claimed a Rookie Class win.
2011 British F3 Rd of Spa-Francorchamps (Rd 7, Race 2)
Pos Driver Team Car Time/Gap
1. Kevin Magnussen Carlin Dallara-VW 18m12.965s (8 laps)
2. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin Dallara-VW + 2.614s
3. Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Merc + 3.369s
4. Hannes van Asseldonk Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW + 4.245s
5. Marco Wittmann Signature Dallara-VW + 6.118s
6. Carlos Munoz Signature Dallara-VW + 7.143s
7. Laurens Vanthoor Signature Dallara-VW + 7.862s
8. Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-VW + 8.485s
9. Daniel Abt Signature Dallara-VW + 13.043s
10. Will Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc + 14.563s
11. Carlos Huertas Carlin Dallara-VW + 14.866s
12. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW + 15.177s
13. Lucas Foresti Fortec Dallara-Merc + 17.934s
14. Pietro Fantin Hitech Dallara-VW + 18.811s
15. Roberto Merhi Prema Dallara-Merc + 19.964s
16. Scott Pye Double R Dallara-Merc + 26.246s
17. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc + 28.423s
18. Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision Dallara-Merc + 28.757s
19. Yann Cunha T-Sport Dallara-VW + 29.939s
20. Adderly Fong Sino Vision Dallara-Merc + 31.981s
21. Pipo Derani Double R Dallara-Merc + 33.185s
22. Bart Hylkema T-Sport Dallara-VW + 39.149s
23. Kotaro Sakurai Hitech Dallara-Mugen + 50.402s
Retirements:
DQ. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW + 24.116s
Menasheh Idafar T-Sport Dallara-VW 5 laps
Harry Tincknell Fortec Dallara-Merc 4 laps
Marko Asmer Double R Dallara-Merc 2 laps
Fahmi Ilyas Fortec Dallara-Merc 2 laps
2011 British F3 Rd of Spa-Francorchamps (Rd 7, Race 2)
Pos Driver Points
Championship standings
1 Felipe Nasr 251
2 Carlos Huertas 143
3 Lucas Foresti 134
4 William Buller 133
5 Kevin Magnussen 132
6 Jazeman Jaafar 130
Rookie class
1 Kotaro Sakurai 246
2 Bart Hylkema 214
FIA Formula 3 International Trophy
1 Roberto Merhi 99
2 Daniel Juncadella 72
3 Marcus Wittmann 51
