Alex Dunne wins the F2 Belgian GP in a rain-soaked race around Spa-Francorchamps. He was closely followed by Arvid Lindblad and Ritomo Miyata, who rounded out the podium.
The first session of today was cancelled due to low visibility and worsening track conditions. However, conditions have improved ahead of the F2 Feature race, but drivers will still be wary of visibility concerns.
Alex Dunne lines up in pole position with Ritomo Miyata alongside him on the front row. With Verschoor and Crawford starting outside the top 10 this weekend, Dunne has the opportunity to close the gap to the championship leaders. Cementing himself as a true championship challenger.
With rain and pit stops in store, this feature race is promising to be exciting.
Wet weather start
As the race begins, the formation lap will start behind the safety car with all drivers on wet-weather tyres. The safety car goes around for another lap, with PREMA informing Minì that rain is due in 10 minutes.
Race control confirmed that the race will have a rolling start, with Alex Dunne to take the pace as the Safety Car peels into the pit lane.
After 3 formation laps, the track is officially green, and Alex Dunne kicks off the Formula 2 feature race. Immediately at the start, Roman Staněk claims P2 at turn 1. However, the Czech driver has a big moment up Eau Rouge, compromising his run down the Kemmel straight. Allowing Miyata to reclaim his position.
This fighting has allowed Alex Dunne to pull away in P1. On the first lap, the Irishman has already pulled out a nearly two-second lead on his rivals.
Rain resumes
On lap 2 of the race, rain resumes around Spa. PREMA have informed their drivers that the rain will last 50 minutes.
Luke Browning, who excelled in wet conditions at Silverstone, is making his way forward again. The Hitech Pulse-Eight driver dove up the inside of Amaury Cordeel at Les Combes to snatch P11. The Belgian will be aiming to score points at home after a disappointing sprint race.
The wet weather has made Eau Rouge more challenging for these drivers. Leonardo Fornaroli mimics his teammate’s earlier mistake, running wide at the top of the hill. That moment allows Pepe Martí to sweep past down the Kemmel Straight and into sixth place.
On Lap 3, Ritomo Miyata is slowly closing in on race leader Alex Dunne, cutting the gap down from 2.3 seconds to just 1.4 on the previous lap. With Dunne claiming his tyres are “dead,” Miyata could have his first race win in F2.
Close battles across the field
Lap 6 is a flashback to last season’s F3 championship battle as Minì lines up Fornaroli for P7. The PREMA driver looked threatening through La Source and appeared set to challenge heading up Eau Rouge, but Fornaroli held firm.
However, Minì wasn’t done yet. Using the slipstream perfectly, he powered past the Invicta driver down the Kemmel Straight, claiming the position in a decisive move.
At the front of the field, Dunne’s lead has been cut down to 0.4s by Miyata behind. Staněk is close behind Miyata with a 0.54s gap to the Japanese driver.
As Lap 8 begins, Miyata looks certain to claim the position on the Kemmel Straight, as he remains within 3 hundredths of the Irishman through Eau Rouge.
Dunne managed to keep the ART driver at bay, keeping his race lead by a slim margin.
Meguetounif, Maini, and Montoya are the first to dive into the pits. All three drivers opt to make their mandatory pit stop and switch to a fresh set of Wet tyres, hoping to gain an early strategic advantage as the rain continues to dictate the pace and grip levels.
Browning continues his charge forward, and moments later, he overtakes Fornaroli into La Source, moving himself up into ninth position.
The Williams Academy driver makes an overtake on Minì. However, the Italian defends well with a cutback out of Turn 1 to maintain P7. Minì needs to remain cautious for the rest of the race as he has been given a black and white flag for repeated track limits violations..
Elsewhere on track, Victor Martins has been handed two five-second time penalties for exceeding track limits. Sending warning shots to every driver to be careful on track.
Pit-stops continue
On lap 11 there was a flurry of drivers diving into the pit lane for their mandatory tyre changes Minì, Beganovic, and Fornaroli were among the first to commit, switching to fresh wet tyres as conditions began to shift once again.
On Lap 12, light rain began to fall around Spa-Francorchamps once again, teams had to make quick decisions. As if the rain intensifies and the race finishes under a red flag, all drivers who have not pitted will be penalised.
The call soon came for the front-runners. Dunne, Miyata, Browning, and Lindblad were all told to box on Lap 13, aiming to avoid getting caught out by the worsening weather.
As the top four make it out of the pits, Luke Browning spun coming out of the Pit Lane. The Hitech driver immediately manages to keep the car going and rejoin the race.
With Cordeel, Goethe, and Duerksen yet to make their mandatory pit stops, they temporarily run in the top 3 on the road. Behind them, the net leaders had reshuffled following the round of stops.
Dunne was immediately on the gearbox of Goethe. Coming into Radillion, the McLaren academy driver almost lost his car in the dirty air of his rival. As the Red Bull junior ramped up his defence on Dunne, Staněk came closer to this battle.
However, Dunne showed his true talent in the F2 machinery, boldly sweeping around the outside of Goethe at Pouhon. Claiming the race lead of the F2 Belgian Grand Prix.
Drama at the front
On lap 16, Arvid Lindblad pulled off a clean move on Roman Staněk into Turn 1, promoting himself to third behind Dunne and Miyata.
Moments later, chaos struck for Miyata in second place. The Japanese driver spun at Pouhon, dropping him down to fourth and gifting Lindblad P2. The Red Bull driver has a 4 second gap to his McLaren counterpart in front.
On lap 18, Sebastian Montoya spins at the top of Raidillon and stalls his PREMA car. The safety car is now released with only four laps remaining, wiping out Dunne’s four-second lead on his competitors.
Verschoor and Shields both make their second pit stop of the race, opting to put on fresh wet tyres for the final stint of the race.
Under the Safety Car, smoke begins to come out of Ollie Goethe’s MP Motorsport car. Goethe comes to a halt on the Kemmel straight and is out of the race with only 2 laps remaining.
The race is now red-flagged on lap 21, and will not be resumed.
Alex Dunne has claimed victory at the F2 Feature Race in Belgium. Not only that, the Irishman has reclaimed the championship lead.
Final classification for the F2 Belgian GP
- A. Dunne
- A. Lindblad
- R. Stanek
- R. Miyata
- L. Browning
- J. Marti
- L. Fornaroli
- G. Mini
- D. Beganovic
- V. Martins
- A. Cordeel
- J. Durksen
- J. Bennett
- R. Villagomez
- S. Meguetounif
- M. Esterson
- J. Crawford
- R. Verschoor
- C. Shields
- K. Maini
- O. Goethe
- S. Montoya
