Charles Leclerc extended his GP3 Series championship lead to 22-points after taking his third victory of the season in Saturday’s opening race at Spa-Francorchamps and then following that up with a sixth place finish on Sunday.
The ART Grand Prix driver started the race from pole position on Saturday, and drove a near perfect race to be quick and to conserve his tyres, even if the pace of Jake Dennis over the closing laps surprised him as the Briton closed the gap significantly.
“I made a strong start and then I was just trying to manage the tyres as much as possible which I think we did quite well,” said Leclerc after Saturday’s race on gp3series.com.
“At the end Jake was incredibly fast; they were telling me his times over the radio and I was thinking what was going on? He had new tyres but it was amazing what he did.”
Leclerc was happy with his performance, especially after struggling during Free Practice with a race simulation, and was able to make adjustments in order to run as strongly as he did.
“I’m really happy with the progress we made from Free Practice as we did a race sim and it was a big disaster for me,” said Leclerc. “I didn’t drive the way I needed too, so I am happy to have learned from it and to have proved it today in the race. I made a big step in my driving style and it paid off for the race.”
Leclerc was happy to have opened up a gap in the championship battle with his performances at Spa, even if the Sunday race was a frustrating affair with a number of safety car interruptions and a late race pass by Dennis that denied the Monegasque driver fifth place.
“Sunday’s race was a bit strange with many safety car interruptions, which was pretty tough regarding tyres management,” said Leclerc on art-grandprix.com. “I’m leaving Spa with 22 points ahead in the championship so that’s really positive.”
