Spa British F3: Will Buller wins in wet as Jann Mardenborough rolls

Buller scorched from the sixth on the grid and braved it out around the outside of poleman Nicholas Latifi at Eau Rouge to take the lead.

With his Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes' qualifying malaise traced to a cracked damper and, as a consequence, warped brake discs, Buller kept Jordan King well under control for most of the race.

The battle for third ended abruptly in the closing stages. Latifi messed up his braking into the Bus Stop chicane, and Carlin team-mate Jann Mardenborough got a run into La Source.

The fight continued into Eau Rouge, where Latifi clipped Mardenborough. The Welshman was tipped upside down while the Canadian slammed into the barriers.

Both drivers have apparently escaped serious injury, although Latifi's car has sustained heavy damage and the second race is not far away.

Buller handled the restart perfectly to keep King at bay for one lap of green-flag racing and complete his victory.

"Fortec worked really hard on the car overnight," said the Northern Irishman, who extended his points lead as a result.

"Once I got in the lead I just got my head down - my weekend starts here."

King was pleased to recover from being forced wide at La Source after the start. He recovered from fifth to second before the end of the opening lap.

Sean Gelael, who had been shadowing Latifi and Mardenborough, completed the podium from his Double R Racing team-mates Tatiana Calderon and Antonio Giovinazzi. The Italian had been in front of Gelael, but was forced into the pits for attention to an inoperative rain light.

Sun Zheng took his expected National Class win in his CF Racing Dallara-Mugen, although Team West-Tec's Jordan Oon led him for a couple of laps in the middle of the race.

Chris Vlok, who was third in class, will start the reversed-grid race from pole.

Results - 11 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                   Time/Gap
 1.  Will Buller         Fortec Dallara-Merc      31m24.681s
 2.  Jordan King         Carlin Dallara-VW           +1.291s
 3.  Sean Gelael         Double R Dallara-Merc       +2.819s
 4.  Tatiana Calderon    Double R Dallara-Merc       +4.223s
 5.  Antonio Giovinazzi  Double R Dallara-Merc       +4.945s
 6.  Sun Zheng           CF Dallara-Mugen            +9.942s
 7.  Jordan Oon          West-Tec Dallara-Toyota    +12.374s
 8.  Chris Vlok          West-Tec Dallara-Toyota    +15.768s

Retirements:

     Nicholas Latifi     Carlin Dallara-VW            8 laps
     Jann Mardenborough  Carlin Dallara-VW            8 laps
     Felipe Guimaraes    Fortec Dallara-Merc          0 laps