David Beckmann scores maiden GP3 win in Spa feature race
David Beckmann scored a maiden GP3 Series win from pole in a Trident Racing one-two, as the squad took three of the top four positions at Spa
Beckmann made a strong getaway, while a brilliant start from Ryan Tveter put him in prime position to challenge his team-mate.
Tveter was sixth entering La Source, but as Pedro Piquet - also of Trident - struggled to get the power down and held up all four ART Grand Prix cars behind him, Tveter snuck up the inside and into second.
He went off the circuit at Les Combes, but held the spot and began to hunt down Beckmann, who'd scurried away in the melee.
Tveter sat on Beckmann's tail for a time before attempting an attack, with the decisive moment coming on lap eight when Tveter used DRS to close on the leader, but he misjudged the breaking point at Les Combs and ran wide, giving Beckmann a two-second buffer.
Beckmann held on for victory in just his third race with the team after joining from Jenzer Motorsport, replacing the Formula 2-bound Alessio Lorandi.
Championship leader Anthoine Hubert got an awful start, and did well to consolidate third after the scramble at Turn 1.
He looked unable to match the pace of the two Trident cars at the front in the early running, but didn't fall back towards the rest of the field either.
He closed Tveter down in the closing stages, and got within 0.6s, but had to settle for third, albeit extending his championship lead to 24 points clear of team-mate Callum Ilott.
Piquet spent most of the race in fifth behind Jake Hughes, who passed Piquet in the early running.
Highes' tyres went off in the closing stages and he fell from fourth to seventh, promoting Piquet to fourth.
Nikita Mazepin - who had been pushed off at La Source at the start - also passed Hughes in the late running to take fifth, ahead of Ilott who needed to rescue points after finishing behind Hubert.
Ilott had attempted to go around the outside of Mazepin at the second part of Les Combs on lap two, the left hander, but Mazepin ran wide on the damp track and knocked his team-mate off the track.
Ilott was lucky to rejoin after the contact.
Joey Mawson passed Hughes on the last lap at Les Combes, but went off the track and almost crashed into Giuliano Alesi when returning onto the circuit.
They avoided contact and Mawson takes pole for the sprint race, with Alesi finishing ninth and Tatiana Calderon sealing 10th.
Leonardo Pulcini's title aspirations took a hit, as the man previously third in the championship could only finish 15th from a 12th-placed start.
The Campos Racing driver has now fallen behind Mazepin in the points.
Pos | Driver | Team | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | David Beckmann | Trident | 17 | 36m56.427s |
2 | Ryan Tveter | Trident | 17 | 1.363s |
3 | Anthoine Hubert | ART Grand Prix | 17 | 2.027s |
4 | Pedro Piquet | Trident | 17 | 9.167s |
5 | Nikita Mazepin | ART Grand Prix | 17 | 11.015s |
6 | Callum Ilott | ART Grand Prix | 17 | 13.392s |
7 | Jake Hughes | ART Grand Prix | 17 | 14.330s |
8 | Joey Mawson | Arden International | 17 | 16.170s |
9 | Giuliano Alesi | Trident | 17 | 17.015s |
10 | Tatiana Calderon | Jenzer Motorsport | 17 | 20.479s |
11 | Juan Manuel Correa | Jenzer Motorsport | 17 | 21.975s |
12 | Simo Laaksonen | Campos Racing | 17 | 25.071s |
13 | Gabriel Aubry | Arden International | 17 | 27.923s |
14 | Niko Kari | MP Motorsport | 17 | 29.176s |
15 | Leonardo Pulcini | Campos Racing | 17 | 30.302s |
16 | Julien Falchero | Arden International | 17 | 31.284s |
17 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 17 | 36.065s |
18 | Devlin Defrancesco | MP Motorsport | 17 | 37.632s |
19 | Diego Menchaca | Campos Racing | 17 | 39.092s |
20 | Jannes Fittje | Jenzer Motorsport | 17 | 41.249s |
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