Championship leader, Carlos Sainz (DAMS) scored his third win in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series this season. The Red Bull Junior Team driver ran the table at Spa-Francorchamps, increasing his lead in the general classification after running away from the field in dominating fashion. Pierre Gasly (Arden Motorsport) and Jazeman Jaafar (ISR) completed the podium in what was a chaotic race, where Beitske Visser (AVF) scored her points of the year.

Saturday morning, Carlos Sainz won his fourth pole of the season, ahead of fellow Red Bull Junior Team driver, Pierre Gasly. Sergey Sirotkin (Fortec Motorsports) and Richie Stanaway (Lotus) shared row two on a starting grid where the top 17 were separated by less than a second.

Following an aborted start due to a light failure, Carlos Sainz put in a perfect start to pull away from Pierre Gasly, who was under attack from Matias Laine (Strakka Racing) and Pietro Fantin (International Draco Racing. Further back, Matias Laine (Strakka Racing) and Pietro Fantin (International Draco Racing) made contact, collecting Zoel Amberg (AVF) and Sergey Sirotkin in a multi-car crash, calling out the safety car.

At the re-start, Carlos Sainz escaped, while Norman Nato (DAMS) attacked Fantin with success in the Radillon to take fourth place. The Brazilian was then overtaken by Jazeman Jaafar (ISR) and Marco Sørensen (Tech 1 Racing), before his race ended following contact with Meindert van Buuren (Pons Racing).

Untouchable, Carlos Sainz won going away with a 17-second margin of victory from Pierre Gasly. Jazeman Jaafar ruined Matias Laine’s chance of a first ever podium result in the category with a last lap pass. Norman Nato finished fifth, ahead of Luca Ghiotto (International Draco Racing), Will Stevens (Strakka Racing), Marco Sørensen and Marlon Stockinger (Lotus). In passing Roman Mavlanov (Zeta Corse) on lap 12, Beitske Visser (AVF) scored her first points in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series.

Quotes

Carlos Sainz: ”I don’t know how we were able to be this fast in the race, while the qualifying was extremely close. I was able to pull away in the opening metres, which wasn’t easy with the aborted start. I had to put my head down after the safety car, but I was able to control these challenges to take the win.”

Pierre Gasly: ”I am very proud of the work by the team because after yesterday’s difficulties we were able to fight for the pole position. Alas, I had a problem with the brake pedal, which made braking very hard. Even though it got better lap after lap, it was impossible to catch Carlos. We will try to do better tomorrow.”

Jazeman Jaafar: ”We didn’t have the necessary speed, so we decided to be more extreme during the race. This allowed me to move from 14th place to third during a race where there was a lot of overtaking. It was nice, although I am disappointed that the two Red Bull cars pulled away.”

Provisional General Classification* : 1. C. Sainz – 99 points, 2. P. Gasly – 69, 3. O. Rowland – 59, 4. W. Stevens – 50, 5. R. Merhi – 38, …
*Subject to confirmation of the results following the technical and sporting verifications.