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At the Spa-Francorchamps Formula 1 circuit, Lando Norris (Carlin, 2m12.144s) claimed pole position in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. The rookie, who is supported by the McLaren Formula 1 team, completed his fastest lap of the 7.004 kilometres long Ardennes roller coaster 0.225 seconds faster than his compatriot Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam, 2m12.369s).

Third place went to Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix, 2m12.420s). Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam, 2m12.588s), the FIA Formula 3 European Championship points’ leader, secured fourth place from Nikita Mazepin (Hitech Grand Prix,2m12.668s) and Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam, 2m12.918s).

With most of free practice and the official test day on Tuesday still having taken place at a damp track, the competitors from the FIA Formula 3 European Championship found nearly dry track conditions for the first time this weekend. Halfway through the session, Callum Ilott was on top from Lando Norris, but the Prema driver turned out to be unable to hold on to this position till the end.

 Two minutes later, Norris already managed to post a faster lap time and the 17-year old went up into the lead from Ilott and Günther. Soon after that, Jake Hughes moved ahead of Günther into third place.

Nikita Mazepin ended up fifth in qualifying, which will award the Russian protégé of the Force India Formula 1 team the best starting position in an FIA Formula 3 European Championship race of the current season.

Guanyu Zhou, Jehan Daruvala (Carlin, 2m12.969s), Ralf Aron (Hitech Grand Prix, 2m13.077s), Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing, 2m13.095s) and Pedro Piquet (Van Amersfoort Racing, 2m13.105s) rounded out the top ten.

Lando Norris (Carlin): “First place came a bit unexpected for me. This was the first session on a dry track all week, so that we didn’t know exactly what set-up we had to take for the car. Some parts of the track were still a bit damp which made things more difficult."

"I made a few mistakes and the tyres degraded as well. Still, I think that both myself and my team have done quite a good job, also bearing in mind that I didn’t have any slipstream at all."

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Lap distance:   7.004 km

Race distance:  33 minutes plus one lap

Location:  Located in eastern Belgium, in the Ardennes forest, near the German border

Airports:  Spa-La Sauvenière Airport [private] (9 km), Liège Airport [LGG] (64 km), Maastricht Aachen Airport [MST] (78 km), Cologne Bonn Airport [CGN] (141 km), Brussels Airport [BRU] (142 km), Dusseldorf International Airport [DUS] (155 km)

Lap record:       Max Verstappen, 2m11.111s (2014)

 

Pole position:

            Qualifying 1                           Qualifying 2                                             Qualifying 3

2013    Not on the calendar

2014    Esteban Ocon                        Gustavo Menezes                                  Esteban Ocon

                  2m10.049s                            2m25.458s                                              2m27.897s

2015    Felix Rosenqvist                                    Mikkel Jensen                                         Jake Dennis

                  2m10.173s                            2m13.707s                                              2m14.665s

2016    Lance Stroll                            George Russell                                        George Russell

                  2m31.409s                            2m12.110s                                              2m12.156s

 

Winner:

            Race 1                                       Race 2                                                         Race 3

2013    Not on the calendar

2014    Max Verstappen                  Max Verstappen                                    Max Verstappen

2015    Charles Leclerc                     Jake Dennis                                              Jake Dennis

2016    Lance Stroll                            George Russell                                        Joel Eriksson

 

INTERESTING FACTS

The Spa-Francorchamps circuit lies within a triangle formed by the Belgian towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot. Despite being part of the circuit’s name, the town of Spa is actually located slightly to the northwest. The larger cities Liege and Brussels are a 40-minute and two-hour drive respectively.

The track’s location in the Ardennes forest is incredible scenic, but it has its own micro climate with unpredictable weather and the possibility of rain showers occurring almost out of nowhere. As a common factor of long circuits, this can mean rain in one part of the track and dry sections elsewhere.

The circuit has an old-style design, which offers great challenges for the drivers. The original layout of the Spa track was over 14 kilometres long, but during a redesign in the late Seventies the lap was shortened by half the length. The new design now features a 7.004 kilometres long lap, but nevertheless managed to retain the high-speed, challenging nature of the original. Even considering the revised layout of Spa, it is still the longest circuit on the 2017 FIA Formula 3 European Championship calendar.

 

FIA F3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP TIMETABLE

Please note that due to competing at the same venue as a 24-hour race, the usual timetable had to be adjusted for this event. Free Practice and Qualifying sessions take place on Thursday, race 1 and race 2 are scheduled for Friday and race 3 for Saturday.

 

Thursday, 27. July

09:00 - 09:40                        Free Practice 1

09:45 - 10:25                        Free Practice 2

13:30 - 13:50                        Qualifying 1

17:10 – 17:30                       Qualifying 2

 

Friday, 28. July

12:15 - 12:50                        Race 1

12:55 (est)                              Race 1 podium ceremony

13:10 (est)                              Race 1 press conference

15:40 - 16:15                        Race 2

16:20 (est)                              Race 2 podium ceremony

16:35 (est)                              Race 2 press conference

 

Saturday, 29. July

12:40 - 13:15                        Race 3

13:20 (est)                              Race 3 podium ceremony

13:35 (est)                              Race 3 press conference

 

 

OFFICIALS APPOINTED BY THE ASN

Stewards of the meeting                                                      Loïc Bacquelaine (BEL)

Clerk of the Course                                                                  Philippe Godet (BEL)

Secretary of the meeting                                                      Robby Wuyts (BEL)

Chief National Scrutineer                                                    Jean-Pierre de Backer (BEL)

Chief National Medical Officer                                         Christian Wahlen (BEL)

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This Tuesday at Spa-Francorchamps, the FIA Formula 3 European Championship teams and drivers contested the last official test day of the 2017 season. Germany’s David Beckmann (Motopark, 2m31.404s) proved to be the quickest at the 7.004-kilometre long Ardennes rollercoaster that also is the venue of the Belgian Formula One GP.

Behind the German, Lando Norris (Carlin, 2m31.536s), Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam, 2m31.943s) and Joel Eriksson (Motopark, 2m32.435s) came second, third and fourth in the test that was partly hampered by torrential rain.

The Motopark driver set the fastest lap time of the day early in the morning session and neither in the morning nor in the afternoon session another driver was able to beat Beckmann.

“My car was fast right from the start what hints to a good basic setup. In the afternoon, we first of all tested wing adjustments and afterwards we tried several things that didn’t result in improvements." He said"

"Now I’m optimistic regarding the weekend and I hope for good results.”

Beckmann’s team-mate Joel Eriksson, currently the toughest rival of championship leader Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam, 2m32.596s), wasn’t too happy about having finished fourth.

.3”We tried a lot but at least we now know the direction we have to work towards.” Günther finished fifth, followed by Jehan Daruvala (Carlin, 2m32.621s), Ralf Aron (Hitech Grand Prix, 2m32.669s), Joey Mawson (Van Amersfoort Racing, 2m32.692s), Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam, 2m32.727s) and Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix, 2m32.807s).

The two newcomers on the FIA Formula 3 European Championship grid had to settle for finishing outside the top 10. Max Defourny (Van Amersfoort Racing, 2m33.303s) came 16th and wasn’t exactly happy. “To be honest I had hoped for securing a slightly better result as things went really well in the private tests"

"I think we still have to work hard to be able to deliver in wet conditions.” The second newcomer, Ameya Vaidyanathan (Carlin, 2m34.511s), finished 19th on the time sheets.

“It was the first time that I was driving on the Hankook wets and I had to familiarise myself with them. Furthermore, the conditions weren’t exactly easy, today. In addition, the level in this series is really high but I like the challenge. Now I’m looking forward to contest the full second half of the 2017 FIA F3 European Championship season.”

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At the 2.3 kilometres long Norisring in Nuremberg, Lando Norris (Carlin) scored his third win in the 2017 FIA Formula 3 European Championship.

In the closing stages of the race, the Brit came out on top in the duel with Ralf Aron (Hitech Grand Prix), who eventually finished fifth. Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix) came second while Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam) was classified third in his home race. Thus, the German extended his lead in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers’ standing. He is now 22 points clear of his main rival Joel Eriksson.

Ralf Aron started from pole position and took the lead ahead of his team-mate Jake Hughes and Maximilian Günther. On the first few metres already, the latter got involved in a duel with Lando Norris, but initially remained ahead of the Brit. Later on, Norris had to defend his position against Pedro Piquet (Van Amersfoort Racing), but successfully managed to do so.

A few laps later, Günther made a few attempts to overtake Hughes, but there was no success for the German. Norris also tried his luck and attacked Günther in return. On lap 18, he found a way past Günther, who was thus fourth. Norris, however, wanted more and also overtook Jake Hughes five laps later. Immediately, he started closing up to race leader Aron and quickly minimised the initial gap of more than one second.

Nine minutes before the end, he was closely behind the Hitech Grand Prix driver who hasn’t won a race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship this season so far. On lap 37, McLaren junior driver Norris overtook Aron for the lead and went on to claim his first Norisring race win.

Behind the Brit, Jake Hughes was second across the line. Maximilian Günther finished third. Jehan Daruvala (Carlin) finished fourth in the 14th race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season from long-time leader Ralf Aron, Pedro Piquet, Harrison Newey (Van Amersfoort Racing), Guanyu Zuhou (Prema Powerteam), Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam) and Joel Eriksson (Motopark).

Lando Norris (Carlin): “I am really happy to finally be on the top step of the podium again. The race was fun, I had some great fights. Nevertheless, overtaking isn’t easy here when the driver in front is defending well. My start was pretty good, too: I didn’t move up, but at least I didn’t lose any positions either.”

Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix): “Being on the podium after yesterday’s mishap is nice. Lando already overtook me halfway through the race, but I stayed closely behind him to take any opportunity that would occur. Our start of the season wasn’t too good, but now we understand the car better and better. It is now easier to drive, especially on the limit.”

Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam): “At the start, I was third and I immediately tried to put Jake under pressure. He defended well and didn’t make any mistakes, so that I didn’t have a chance. Towards the halfway point, I was having some brake problems from which Lando benefitted to overtake me. I was able to keep up with him and finally use my chance to finish on the podium. Being on the podium in my home round again is nice and the points for third place are valuable, too. However, at this fairly early stage of the season, I am not looking at the championship standings too much.”

 

         

 

 

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