“Serralles claims Spa F3 victory”

© SRO.

Felix Serralles took his third Formula 3 victory of the season today at Spa-Francorchamps to close to within one point of series leader Jack Harvey.

Starting from pole position, the Puerto Rican fell behind Carlos Sainz Jr (Carlin) after a shuffle off the line, but recovered to chase down the Spaniard on the following tour.

Seeing an opportunity, the Fortec racer drew to the rear of Sainz Jr, eventually taking the Carlin man at the entry to Les Combes on the third lap.
“There was more grip in the tyres than I was expecting at the start so I bogged down a bit. But I wasn’t worried too much if I stayed P2 because I knew that I could slipstream Carlos later.”
Serralles drew up to 7 seconds ahead of the next man over the remaining laps, only to drop the gap to 5.657 seconds nearer the flag.

Sainz Jr would not be able to hold the chase for long. On his tail lurked Formula 3 Euro Series challenger Daniel Juncadella.
The Prema Powerteam racer had complained of a “difficult” car in the build-up to the race; however Juncadella held just enough of an advantage over Sainz Jr to scramble up to 2nd on lap five.

Once in clear air, Juncadella found himself in something of a limbo, unable to catch the leader, but also distancing himself from Sainz Jr. It proved to be an important move for Juncadella as he faces down Sainz in the FIA European F3 Championship – to which this round also counts.

There was an ongoing battle for 4th spot, eventually won by Jack Harvey. A late move by the Englishman took him ahead of Carlin teammate Jazeman Jaafar on the final tour, after the Malaysian balked him the circulation before.
It was a superb result for Harvey – who started 10th – and allows him to keep a narrow lead over Serralles in the standings. Meanwhile Harvey and Jaafar held Alex Lynn and Michael Lewis off to the flag, with Lynn nabbing 6th on the final tour.

Pipo Derani climbed up the order during the race to close out the top eight. From the sixth row, the Brazilian fought passed Sven Muller, Pascal Wehrlein and Tom Blomqvist, while an off the road Hannes van Asseldonk gave the Brazilian another spot.
Felix Rosenqvist followed Derani home in 9th, while Blomqvist assumed 10th overall.

Duvashen Padayachee claimed the National Class victory, leading all the way from Adderly Fong, Spike Goddard and Pedro Pablo Calbimonte.

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                   Time/Gap
 1.  Felix Serralles       Fortec Dallara-Merc      29m45.219s
 2.  Daniel Juncadella     Prema Dallara-Merc         + 5.657s
 3.  Carlos Sainz Jr       Carlin Dallara-VW         + 10.462s
 4.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW         + 12.678s
 5.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW         + 14.364s
 6.  Alex Lynn             Fortec Dallara-Merc       + 14.515s
 7.  Michael Lewis         Prema Dallara-Merc        + 16.009s
 8.  Pipo Derani           Fortec Dallara-Merc       + 16.776s
 9.  Felix Rosenqvist      Mucke Dallara-Merc        + 18.081s
10.  Tom Blomqvist         Ma-Con Dallara-VW         + 20.037s
11.  Raffaello Marciello   Prema Dallara-Merc        + 20.283s
12.  Sven Muller           Prema Dallara-Merc        + 26.069s
13.  Harry Tincknell       Carlin Dallara-VW         + 27.009s
14.  Pascal Wehrlein       Mucke Dallara-Merc        + 28.790s
15.  Geoff Uhrhane         Double R Dallara-Merc     + 29.233s
16.  Pietro Fantin         Carlin Dallara-VW         + 31.052s
17.  Emil Bernstorff       Ma-Con Dallara-VW         + 31.753s
18.  Nick McBride          T-Sport Dallara-Nissan    + 33.004s
19.  Andrea Roda           Zeller Dallara-Merc       + 33.486s
20.  Lucas Wolf            URD Dallara-Merc          + 37.729s
21.  Fahmi Ilyas           Double R Dallara-Merc     + 38.501s
22.  Sandro Zeller         Zeller Dallara-Merc       + 40.982s
23.  Hannes van Asseldonk  Fortec Dallara-Merc       + 45.415s
24.  Richard Bradley       Carlin Dallara-VW         + 45.470s
25.  Duvashen Padayachee   Double R Dallara-Mugen    + 54.785s
26.  Luis Sa Silva         Angola Dallara-Merc       + 56.276s
27.  Adderly Fong          CF Dallara-Mugen        + 1m01.814s
28.  Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-Mugen   + 1m01.912s
29.  Pedro Calbimonte      T-Sport Dallara-Mugen   + 1m03.490s
2012 British Formula 3 Series points standings
International Class
Pos driver Points
 1. Jack Harvey            198
 2. Felix Serralles        197
 3. Jazeman Jaafar         192
 4. Carlos Sainz Jr        155
 5. Alex Lynn              152
 6. Pietro Fantin          139
National Class
Pos Driver Points
 1. Spike Goddard          282
 2. Duvashen Padayachee    253 
 3. Adderly Fong            77
 4. Padro Pablo Calbimonte  10

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