Ed Jones enjoyed a comfortable win on his Cooper Tires British Formula Three International Series return, leading from lights to flag in the first of the three scheduled races at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Carlin driver broke clear at the start of the 30 minute race, aided in his escape as Sean Gelael fell from second on the grid to fourth after the opening lap. However, Jones’ early break would come to nothing as the field was quickly gathered behind the safety car after Sam MacLeod went off on the opening lap having started the race from fifth.
Once underway Jones repeated his act of pulling away into the lead, this time with Roberto Mehri, a new competitor in the British F3 fold, in second and John Bryant-Meisner third. However, both lost out Gelael as he made his way back to second place to recreate the Carlin one-two that had topped qualifying.
The top finished well clear of Motopark Academy driver Indy Dontje who moved up the order from ninth on the opening lap. His teammate Nabil Jeffri finished sixth leading home a trio of British F3 regulars in the form of Andy Chang, Matt Rao and Li Zhi Cong.
Points leader Martin Cao’s race was spoilt by a drive through penalty for an improper start procedure, which dropped him to 13th and last once he had served it. He recovered to 11th, passing Camren Kaminsky on the final lap, getting between he and Zlobin Nikita who had duelled over the final spot in the top ten for much of the race.