BEARMAN STUNS AT SPA
British rising star Ollie Bearman has raced to within a point of the FIA Formula 3 table top after taking his first win in the category at Spa last weekend.
The Prema racer, who won
Motorsport News’s 2021 rising star of the year award, made it a Spa double podium with third place in the feature race. He is now a point shy of Hitech Grand Prix’s Isack Hadjar at the championship summit.
Bearman won Saturday’s sprint race at Spa, despite a lengthy race stoppage – caused by a large Blanchimont crash involving Oliver Goethe and Zane Maloney – and two safety car periods. Bearman started fifth but steered clear of lap-one chaos to climb to second, then on lap two slipstreamed past Carlin’s Brad Benavides to lead.
Trident’s Maloney bounced back for his own FIA F3 maiden win in Sunday’s feature race, after passing Caio Collet. Collet finished third on the road but Bearman inherited the place when Collet picked up a post-race penalty for rejoining the track unsafely.
Roman Stanek meanwhile took two second-place finishes at Spa, and now sits fifth in the table just 10 points off the top.
Bearman said: “It’s super close now. The other championship contenders had a really difficult weekend, so I felt like I capitalised on that side. The top five are all in with a chance.”