Joel Eriksson became the tenth different winner of the season after capitalising on a slow getaway from polesitter George Russell in the final race of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday.
Russell dropped down towards the back end of the top ten due to his sluggish getaway, allowing Eriksson to streak into the lead, a position he was never to lose until the chequered flag to give him his maiden series victory and Motopark’s first trip to victory lane of 2016.
Anthoine Hubert secured second place for Van Amersfoort Racing, 1.613 seconds behind Eriksson, with the Frenchman being kept honest for much of the race by Prema Powerteam’s Lance Stroll, only for the Canadian to lose out to Russell for the final spot on the podium after a great battle in the final few laps.
Russell made his first move on Stroll at the Bus Stop chicane with three laps remaining, only to find the Canadian attack the Briton on the Kemmel Straight, with Stroll getting momentarily ahead on two consecutive laps only to find Russell get back ahead around the outside of Les Combes both times.
Nick Cassidy and Maximilian Günther also found themselves caught and passed by the recovering Russell, with the Prema team-mates being forced to settle for fifth and sixth, ahead of Motopark’s Niko Kari.
Kari passed Nikita Mazepin on the penultimate lap, with the Russian being forced to settle for eighth, a disappointing result especially when the Hitech GP driver was running third in the opening stages.
Mücke Motorsport claimed the final two places in the points, with Mikkel Jensen just ahead of team-mate David Beckmann.
It was a disappointing day for both Ben Barnicoat and Callum Ilott, who, whilst running second and third on the run down to Les Combes on the opening lap clashed, spinning Ilott around and giving Barnicoat a puncture that saw him fall to the back of the field.
Ilott was unable to get any higher than eighteenth with a car showing less than ideal speed before the Van Amersfoort Racing racer pulled into the pits to retire with a handful of laps remaining.
Spa-Francorchamps Race 3 Result
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