Race Report

2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix
GP3 SERIES

Circuit: Spa-Francorchamps (B), Length 7,003 km, 27^th/28^th August 2016, Rounds 11 & 12
www.spa-francorchamps.be

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2016:
AKASH NANDY (MAS), OSCAR TUNJO (COL) and ARJUN MAINI (IND)

Missed chance at Spa

The GP3 Series met up at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps (B) circuit, as ever racing as one of the support races for the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix. This was their sixth outing out of a total of nine supporting the 2016 Grand Prix Programme.

Race One Qualifying

Saturday, 26/08/16, 09.45 – 10.15, Weather: Sunny, 24°C

The free practice session on Friday afternoon took place in beautiful sunshine. On this most impressive track lap times were very close and 11 drivers were within a second of the best time. Oscar was an excellent 5^th, Arjun was 12^th and Akash was 18^th.
It was also sunny the next morning for qualifying, and the temperature was already starting to rise. Arjun managed to qualify in an excellent 7^th place, while Oscar was unfortunately unable to repeat his free practice form and ended up 16^th, with Akash ending the session in 23^rd.

GP3 Series

Race One (40 Minutes)

Saturday, 27/08/16, 17.20, Weather: Sunny, 32°C

After the start Parry, Arjun and Hughes attempted to take La Source side-by-side: Three cars into there simply doesn’t work and all three crashed, ending up off the track. That put a premature end to Arjun’s race, and the Safety Car had to be deployed while it was all cleared away. Akash managed to avoid the carnage effectively and was up to 11^th, while Oscar lost a place to end up 18^th after he had to take avoiding action. At the restart Akash was very careful and dropped back to 13^th as a result. Then he ran wide and made a bumpy return to the track by bouncing over the kerbs. He decided to return to the pitlane, where the team checked his car and sent him back out, but he was now down in 18^th place. Oscar launched a wild chase for positions and fought his way back up to 13^th. After a second brief Safety Car phase he managed to overtake Albon, but Albon reclaimed the place a handful of laps later. Later on Oscar was able to pass Palou which meant he was now 12^th. Going into the final lap he tried a move one Tereshenko but it went wrong and Oscar finally crossed the finish line in 15^th. During his wild ride Oscar damaged the chassis of his car sufficiently badly that he would not be able to start the second race.

The grid for the second race of the weekend was set by reversing the order of the first eight finishers in the first race, with the rest of the places set according to finishing order in the first race.

GP3 Series

Race Two (30 Minutes)

Sunday, 28/08/16, 09.15, Weather: Sunny, 24°C

The second race also started in front of a huge crowd of spectators and in brilliant sunshine. After his accident in race one Arjun had to start right at the back but he managed to claw his way up to 18^th during the early laps. That put him just ahead of Akash, who was running in 19^th place. There were some accidents and the Safety Car had to be deployed. At the restart Hughes attacked Parry, they touched and spun off track right in front of our drivers and Arjun and Akash were lucky not to be caught up in the accident as well. The Safety Car took the field over yet again. At the new restart Arjun managed to improve by one place which meant he was now 11^th. He was close to the group in front of him and was attacking fiercely as positions changed several times. When Fukuzumi and Joerg crashed, the Safety Car had to take the field over for a third time. Arjun started another move on the very last lap and tangled with Albon. Luckily both cars were able to continue but it meant Arjun crossed the line 12^th. Akash managed to avoid all the incidents, made good restarts and took the chequered flag after an eventful race in a good 14^th place.

We are now looking forward to the next race which takes place next week at Monza (I).

Championship standings after 12 out of 18 races:

1^st Charles Leclerc (F), 161 points; 2^nd Antonio Fuoco (I), 139 points; 3^rd Alexander Albon (THA), 125 points; 4^th Nick de Vries (NL), 81 points; 5^th Matt Parry (GB), 70 points; 6^th Jack Aitken (GB), 65 points; 12^th Arjun Maini, 32 points; 13^th Oscar Tunjo (COL), 18 points

2016 GP3 Series

For more information:

• www.gp3series.com
• www.italiaracing.net