Formula Sprint 1
Race 1 went to Lahtinen, with Roszak and Andrzejewski rounding out the podium. A Malta Force 1-2 followed in race 2; Pawel taking yet another victory for the team.
Superleague Lights (SL2)
A race of difficult weather conditions resulted in Nobert Jakab taking victory ahead of Jose Soriano, whilst Lucas Murno rounded out the podium.
Superleague
By Ed Hunter
Unpredictable weather in the Ardennes led to crazy strategy gambles, big crashes, and a massive swing for Loic Meunier into the lead of the driver’s standings with 6 races remaining.
Qualifying
With a wet but slowly drying qualifying in Spa, it was always going to come down to the last drivers over the line. THR’s Jarl Teien set an excellent lap, only to be beaten in the dying moments of qualifying by first the Valle of Alessandro Maggio, and then TOP’s Carlos Martin, who sensationally took his maiden pole position in Superleague by 0.043 of a second over the Italian. Meunier lined up fifth on the grid for Spark Racing, whilst his title rival Szymon Frelik had another tricky qualifying down in sixteenth place.
Race
With damp conditions at the start of the forty four lap race, Martin led away from pole as the field started on intermediate tyres. Maggio however made a dire getaway from the front row before connection issues scuppered his chances for the third race in succession. Meunier executed the start brilliantly, clearing Alex Lehoux and Maciej Mlynek at La Source before then slipstreaming his way past Teien down the Kemmel straight to run second. Teien’s teammate Tom Stevens also made a nippy getaway from eighth on the grid to run fourth at the end of the first lap.
With the track drying much quicker than expected, Teien was the first of the frontrunners to pit for dry tyres after three laps. Most of the leaders then pitted a lap later, and Teien found himself overcut by his teammate Stevens for third. By contrast, Martin waited until the end of lap five to pit, and found himself undercut for the lead by Meunier.
Marc Schlueter had qualified a lowly twenty first, and the Edge Esports driver stayed out on the intermediates longer than anyone else, pitting at the end of lap seven for hard tyres, in what would prove to be a fateful decision.
Mlynek had been on the move, quickly clearing both Teien and Lehoux after his first pitstop, but he then spun into the gravel on lap eight pushing too hard through Stavelot in his pursuit of the top three, falling down to seventeenth.
Mlynek’s misfortune was dwarfed by what was to follow on lap eleven however. It started when Meunier touched the grass on the entry to La Source, allowing Martin to briefly retake the lead as the Frenchman then used the slipstream down the Kemmel straight to take it straight back, Stevens had closed in behind, and attempted to make a move on Martin. The Spaniard jinked out to the right, catching out Stevens, as the Englishman lost control and arrived into Les Combes end-over-end in a huge barrel roll that decimated his THR car.
On lap thirteen the rain reappeared and began to intensify for a couple of laps. Maciej Mlynek and Szymon Frelik were among a number of drivers who gambled on going back to the intermediates,
only for it to then dry up again within a few laps. The most unfortunate examples were Rait Kilk and Oscar Soltero who pit for inters and then crashed out of the race almost immediately.
On lap twenty six, Meunier saved a huge sideways moment on the curbs at Paul Frere corner, allowing Martin to power past into the lead with the DRS the following lap. Meunier then immediately responded by undercutting Martin in the pits by a lap, only to find they had both been undercut by Alex Lehoux and Jarl Teien, who both drivers made short work of.
During all of this, Schlueter had stayed out and taken the lead. After twenty six laps on the hard tyre, the German was being caught by Meunier at a rate of nearly two seconds per lap. But the weather proved to be the German’s salvation, as the rain returned with eleven laps to go, and this time it was here to stay. Meunier though had caught Schlueter in the final sector and made a bold pass round the outside at the bus stop, and was left just enough space before everyone pit for intermediate tyres, meaning Schlueter had done one stop less than everyone else and leaped up to second.
TOP gambled by putting both drivers on the full wet tyre, but the a break in the rain scuppered their chances as Teien put in a late charge to knock Martin off the podium and Frelik lost tenth place to Mlynek with just three laps remaining.
But it was Meunier who triumphed up front to take his second victory of the season, as Schlueter held on from Teien to take his first podium of the season in second. Behind a disappointed Martin would be Lehoux, who ended his streak of accidents to take a hard-fought fifth in tricky conditions.
Championship standings
Meunier now tops the drivers table for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix in May, as he now leads Jan Granqvist by twenty three points ahead of the Super Venturi driver’s return at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Frelik is still in third, now seventeen points behind the reigning champion, but just a point ahead of Teien who is closely followed by Mlynek and Stevens. THR have now pulled twenty seven points clear in the teams’ championship as TOP move into second, two points ahead of Super Venturi after another pointless race for the Finnish squad, who’s single car for Jukkapekka Lalu had a terrible race and retired after ten laps. Spark are another twenty three points in arrears, having moved up to fourth past Holland Racing Team and Edonis Engineering.
