Belgian Sprint Race: Bearman secures win after red flag stop
27th August 2022Prema’s Oliver Bearman moved up from fifth to first to claim his maiden F3 win, helped by the perfect restart after the red flag stoppage.
How the race unfolded…
It was a great start from the pole sitter, Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan, as the pack filtered around the first corner – La Source – in a very well behaved manner. O’Sullivan soon came under pressure, down the Kemmel Straight, from the likes of Calin’s Brad Benavides and ART’s Juan Manuel Correa.
However, Correa and O’Sullivan made contact, at turn four, which – ultimately – ended both of their races.
In the contact, O’Sullivan suffered front wing damage which disconnected from down the final corners while Correa gained a puncture. Both drivers were forced to return to the pit lane.
The yellow flag was quickly brought out on the first lap as the pack filtered through turns five and six. This was due to Van Amersfoort Racing’s Franco Colapinto who spun out, in the midfield melee, but the VAR driver was able to continue on.
However, the yellow flag was quickly brought back out as Charouz’s Christian Mansell was seen in the barrier, at turn five, on lap two. VAR’s Rafael Villagomez made contact with the Charouz driver which bounced the Charouz driver across the gravel trap and into the barrier. As a result, the safety car was deployed.
As the safety car peeled back into the pit lane at the end of lap five, two drivers were slapped with time penalties for causing a collision; Trident’s Jonny Edgar (five seconds) who collided with Colapinto and Villagomez (10 seconds).
The safety car was quickly redeployed, at the end of lap six, as Campos’ Olli Goethe and Trident’s Zane Maloney crashed out. Goethe tried to slip passed Maloney, around the outside at Blanchimont – turn 17, but the Trident driver accidentally made contact which launched both drivers onto the gravel trap and into the barrier.
Despite the horrific scenes, both drivers were okay. The race was quickly red flagged as a result of the crash.
During the red flag stoppage, ART’s Victor Martins was slapped with a drive through penalty for a jump start at the beginning of the race. While O’Sullivan was slapped with a five-second time penalty for causing a collision, on the first lap.
After the stoppage, the race finally got back underway with a rolling start on lap 10. However, Prema’s Oliver Bearman got the perfect restart as he managed to clear Edgar before the British driver arrived at La Source.
This meant Edgar became under immediate threat from the likes of Benavides, in third, down the Kemmel straight. Despite the pressure, Edgar managed to maintain second-place.
After two laps, Bearman had cleared a two-second gap between himself and Edgar. However, Benavides had a horrible start as the American driver fell from third place to fifth by lap 12.
Podium:
- Oliver Bearman, Prema
- Roman Stanek, Trident
- Alexander Smolyar, MP Motorsport
That’s it for the article: ! What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments!
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
