Williams junior driver Zak O'Sullivan took his second win of the Formula 2 season in treacherous conditions before the race was red-flagged, having previously been postponed earlier in the day.
The Spa F2 sprint race had been due to start at 2:15pm local time on Saturday but was postponed due to heavy rain.
The race was eventually started at 6:25pm, with O’Sullivan on pole making a strong start as the chasing pack were well-behaved in the wet conditions.
Pulling out a two-second lead with clear air ahead, O’Sullivan was unchallenged when the virtual safety car was deployed on the third lap to initially to cover the recovery of Pepe Marti’s Campos, which had stopped on the run to Pouhon.
This was soon upgraded to a full safety car on lap four, but worsening conditions meant the field remained in a single file train before the red flags flew on lap seven and the race was not resumed.
The FIA explained the call not to restart the race: “The decision not to resume the FIA Formula 2 sprint race was taken due to the lack of visibility caused by the level of rain we have experienced in the past few hours coupled with the high-speed characteristics of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
“The safety of drivers, team members, volunteers, officials and spectators is our main priority.”
In the limited racing, Oliver Bearman made significant early progress after firing up his wet tyres, climbing from 14th to seventh.
But the move of the race came from his Prema team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who ran side by side with Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) to Eau Rouge, before climbing the hill side by side. As Colapinto was forced to concede sixth, Bearman also squeezed past on the Kemmel Straight.
As a result of the reduced distance, points were awarded only to the top five, with O’Sullivan collecting five. He was joined on the podium by Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) and Richard Verschoor (Trident), as Zane Maloney (Rodin) and Jack Crawford (DAMS) completed the points places.
Paul Aron (Hitech) finished 18th after taking a grid penalty for the sprint race, meaning he started from 20th. He will start Sunday’s feature race from pole position with championship rivals Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta) and Isack Hadjar (Campos) directly behind.
Spa-Francorchamps - Sprint race
|
1
-
2
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cla | Driver | # | Laps | Time | Interval | km/h | Pits | Points | Retirement | Bonus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix |
2 | 5 |
14'15.548 |
146.836 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 |  D. Hauger MP Motorsport |
11 | 5 |
+0.849 14'16.397 |
0.849 | 146.690 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 |  R. Verschoor Trident |
22 | 5 |
+1.122 14'16.670 |
0.273 | 146.644 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 |  Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport |
5 | 5 |
+3.031 14'18.579 |
1.909 | 146.318 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 |  J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil |
7 | 5 |
+4.051 14'19.599 |
1.020 | 146.144 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 |  A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam |
4 | 5 |
+5.210 14'20.758 |
1.159 | 145.947 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | O. Bearman Prema Powerteam |
3 | 5 |
+6.022 14'21.570 |
0.812 | 145.810 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 |  F. Colapinto MP Motorsport |
12 | 5 |
+7.665 14'23.213 |
1.643 | 145.532 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 |  I. Hadjar Campos Racing |
20 | 5 |
+8.907 14'24.455 |
1.242 | 145.323 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 |
G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing
|
10 | 5 |
+9.907 14'25.455 |
1.000 | 145.155 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| View full results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
