The race to win the second season of the GP3 Series is still widely open on the eve of the penultimate round of the season at Spa-Francorchamps.
The form man in the series is Valtteri Bottas, the Finnish ART driver having finished on the podium in all of the last four races, scoring two wins in the process. He arrives in Belgium with a seven point lead at the head of the standings.
Alexander Sims had led the way going into Hungary, but was disqualified from the first race due to a technical infringement, which meant he headed into the four-week break on the back of a point-less weekend. Nonetheless, the British Status GP driver remains second overall and is still Bottas' nearest challenger.
Two points behind Sims is Nigel Melker. The Dutchman was the early pacesetter in the season, winning the first race at Istanbul. Since then he's been far less of a threat at the front, but he's certainly still a major contender for the title.
Tied for fourth place and just one point behind Melker are the British duo of Lewis Williamson and James Calado. Both have one once so far this season and have proven in recent rounds that they are capable of consistently running at the front end, so long as they can keep out of trouble.
Mitch Evans and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs cannot be ruled out either. The pair are tied for sixth, just 13 points behind Bottas with 40 points left up for grabs. Kiwi teenager Evans led the standings early on but has not scored a points finish in a race since the third meeting at Valencia.
This weekend the drivers will have just one practice session rather than the usual two. However, that session will at least be extended from 30 minutes to 45 to help them get the hang of the challenging Ardennes circuit.
