Kevin Magnussen leads into La Source in the rain (Photo Credit: Vincent Curutchet/DPPI)
Kevin Magnussen took victory in race two at Spa in appalling conditions took make it five different winners in the first five races.
Magnussen, who headed the field behind the safety car with the circuit deemed to be too dangerous, stormed away from Robin Frijns in the early stages but as the two made their mandatory pit stops it appeared the Dane would once again be denied victory in Belgium.
A problem with his left rear saw Frijns usurp the Carlin driver but Magnussen, no doubt spurred on by his team’s pit lane dramas, snatched back the lead by diving down the inside into Les Combes.
After the safety car was brought out again following a nasty accident involving Richie Stanaway and Carlos Huertas, Magnussen took his deserved maiden win despite not actually being the first car on the road.
Lewis Williamson and Jake Rosenzweig did not pit after the safety car period and once the race was restarted following a red flag to extricate Stanaway from his Lotus, therefore received a one minute time penalty.
Magnussen said: “I've had ups and downs this weekend. It started well with my first pole, but in the first race we didn't have the level of performance that we'd expected.
‘This race was incredibly difficult. With the drivers not having made their stops, I didn't really know if I was in the lead.
“The only negative was that we had a bad pitstop. Fortunately I managed to regain the advantage over Robin.”
Frijns eventually finished third behind Nick Yelloly after the Briton’s fortuitously timed pit stop, not to mention a superb drive in the Ardennes valleys, saw him jump the Dutchman after his stop.
Yelloly passed Williamson in the first lap after the safety car period and improved another place after Jules Bianchi’s slow pit stop.
The Comtec driver briefly lead as Magnussen and Frijns pitted and got ahead of the latter with his stop timed just after Stanaway’s accident and took his second podium of the campaign.
He said: “What a race! We really couldn't see anything.
“I'm happy to finish second, given our performance level in qualifying. We're moving up in the championship, which is the most important thing.”
Despite being so close to a win, Frijns had to settle for third.
The Fortec Motorsport driver said: “It hasn't all gone perfectly this weekend. Yesterday was not a good day, but we were better today.
“All I tried to do was to go all the way. It paid off and I've finished third, which puts me back on the championship trail… even though, and I repeat, I'm not thinking about it. Well, not much…”
Nico Muller scored his best result of the season to finish fourth, while Sam Bird produced a remarkable recovery drive from the back of the field to complete the top five thus retaning the championship lead.
Bird’s pass around the outside of Walter Grubmuller into Les Combes typified the bravery on show at Spa in the most appalling conditions.
Results - 18 laps:
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Kevin Magnussen Carlin 1h02m43.958s
2. Nick Yelloly Comtec + 2.682s
3. Robin Frijns Fortec + 6.820s
4. Nico Muller Draco + 9.688s
5. Sam Bird ISR + 12.820s
6. Walter Grubmuller P1 + 14.643s
7. Marco Sorensen Lotus + 15.611s
8. Will Stevens Carlin + 17.457s
9. Nikolay Martsenko BVM Target + 20.322s
10. Giovanni Venturini BVM Target + 23.429s
11. Yann Cunha Pons + 27.977s
12. Andre Negrao Draco + 28.427s
13. Kevin Korjus Tech 1 + 29.596s
14. Daniil Move P1 + 36.684s
15. Anton Nebylitskiy RFR + 41.765s
16. Lewis Williamson Arden + 49.840s
17. Jules Bianchi Tech 1 + 54.040s
18. Jake Rosenzweig ISR + 56.803s
Retirements:
Alexander Rossi Arden 12 laps
Carlos Huertas Fortec 8 laps
Richie Stanaway Lotus 8 laps
Arthur Pic DAMS 7 laps
Vittorio Ghirelli Comtec 6 laps
Zoel Amberg Pons 6 laps
Mikhail Aleshin RFR 5 laps
Lucas Foresti DAMS 4 laps
