BRDC F3: Preview – Spa Saddles up for F3 Season’s Second Half

As the BRDC British F3 Championship heads into its second half, the omus is very much on Clement Novalak to regain the momentum that sees him hold a 22 point gap to Johnathan Hoggard.

The 2017 World Karting Champion had a rocky start to his single-seater career last year, but now in his second season with Carlin seemed unstoppable after three rounds. However failure to score a podium at Donington (a first for this season), coupled with a double win from Hoggard has shifted the momentum to the Fortec Motorsport driver as we arrive at Spa-Francorchamps, a circuit in which neither driver has raced at.

Belgium’s abroad round has been a regular feature of the BRDC F3 calendar for the past three seasons and now in it’s fourth visit to the Grand Prix circuit, the championship is still wide open for three drivers, as Ayrton Simmons looks to close up to the leading two.

Despite racing in both the British F3 and Eurocup Formula Renault series last year, Clement missed both events with the latter being due to an accident in the previous round. Testing at the unofficial pre-season test is the only data we have and if it’s to be believed then Novalak certainly has the upper hand.

Setting a 2min 16.032, Novalak topped the day’s running in late March, a few weeks before the start of the season. As for Hoggard, he completed the day sixth, 0.68 seconds off the Carlin’s benchmark. This gap would drop significantly a month later when Novalak qualified second to Hoggard’s fourth (nine hundredth’s behind) at the first round at Oulton Park.

Last time out Hoggard recorded two victories, bringing his total up to four for the season. The only other driver to have more than one win; Novalak, would pick up a trio of fourth places at Donington Park, though only dropped eight points to Hoggard as the Spalding-born driver crashed with Ayrton Simmons in race two. The result of which saw Simmons disqualified, having already made contact with Kaylen Frederick at the first corner.

“It’s a great circuit, I enjoy the layout and the challenge it brings – it’s a real drivers’ circuit. Testing was useful for learning the track and having other F3 drivers on track at the same time helped provide a useful benchmark.

“Many of the other drivers on the grid have raced Spa previously, either in British F3 or other European championships, but Fortec has the experience of the set-up having achieved pole position last year.” – Johnathan Hoggard

Of the current crop of drivers, only four have experience racing around Spa in the Tatuus-Cosworth MSV F4-016. One of these, Ayrton Simmons, started on pole for the reverse grid race after dropping back from his fourth place start in race one. While his qualifying laps were on pace with the championship leaders, his race pace suffered, dropping to fourth in race two before retiring from the third.

He’s in a similar position to that of Manuel Maldonado, who qualified third, though unlike Simmons, the Fortec Motorsports driver was able to keep up in the two main races, finishing fourth twice last year. With another years experience in the car and team, the Venezuelan will be favourite to shine around the 7km winding mountain pass.

Of the other three drivers with circuit knowledge; Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Josh Mason and Pavan Ravishankar had vastly different experiences at the event last year. Ravishankar and Mason failed to threaten the top ten, while the Thai driver had his best result of the year, a second place in the reverse grid race. It was one of only two podiums for him during 2018 and comes into this years event off the back of his first silverware of the season at Donington Park. Chaimongkol held off championship leader Novalak in the final race for a third. His biggest downfall this year has been gaining positions during races and is one only three full-time drivers to have not picked up a bonus point in the reverse grid events.

It will be a return to familar soil for one other driver; Ulysse de Pauw. The Belgium national not only raced here in 2018, but also recorded silverware, picking up a win (his only of the season) and second during the French F4 campaign. It’s been a tough 2019 for Douglas Motorsport, but the rookie has taken on an unexpected team leader role alongside British F4 champion Kiern Jewiss and Danish star Benjamin Pedersen in the team.

He picked up a first podium of the year at Donington, commenting;

“I hope to continue my Donington form at Spa and for the rest of the season, there’s no reason why we can’t do that. The pace was there all weekend at Donington, I’m confident and hope to go one better at my home race.

Speaking more about a trip back to his homeland the 19-year-old said;

“It’s my home race but I don’t know the circuit that well. Hopefully I’ll have a small advantage compared to the rest of the tracks in the UK that I barely know at all, but I really want to get some good results at Spa for all the people that will come to see me.” – Ulysse De Pauw

Coming into the fifth round, the field is parcularly split into three’s throughout the top twelve. Behind the breakawat three, Neil Verhagen lead the best of the rest on 176 points, with just five seperating himself from Maldonado and De Pauw.

Then in seventh, fellow American Kaylen Frederick lies on 158 points after a double retirement at Donington, with Jewiss and Hampus Ericsson both within four points. Completing the quartet of trios is the battle for tenth, as Benjamin Pedersen, Chaimongkol and Nazim Azman are split by a mere eight points. Azman is one of only two full time drivers this season not to have finished on the podium so far, with both him and Kris Wright hoping to shine at Spa.

Josh Mason had his time in the sun last round, recording his second British F3 win at Donington Park in the reverse grid race, holding off Ravishankar. He once again won’t be the only Lanan Racing driver on the grid though as FIA F3 driver Andreas Estner returns to the seat for extended track time before the F1 circus arrives in late August. He’d previously raced at the Silverstone round in preparation for the FIA F3 event, though sadly his extra experience failed to help him break into the top 20.

With Nicholas Varrone completing the grid for Hillspeed, the Spa round will see the equal largest grid this year, matching the 18 strong field from Silverstone. The reigning VdeV Monoplace champion commented;

“It’s fantastic to be back with Hillspeed in British F3 this weekend and I can’t wait to arrive at Spa, it’s going to be incredible racing at such a famous and demanding track. I’m also looking forward to building on the great relationship we started with the Hillspeed guys at Silverstone.” – Nico Varrone

The extended schedule for this weekend, sees driver awarded three 45-minute test sessions on Friday (09:00, 11:15, and 13:30) before qualifying later at 17:05 [16:05 UK Time]. Race one will be 12:40pm [11:40am UK] on Saturday, with Race Two and Three to be broadcast on their website on Sunday at 09.35 [08:35 UK] and 15.00 [14:00 UK].