Belgian GP: Maloney heads Trident 1-2 in Spa with maiden win
28th August 2022Trident’s Zane Maloney secured his first Formula 3 win, at Belgium’s iconic Spa-Francorchamps, as he headed a 1-2 finish for the Italian outfit.
How the race unfolded…
It was a superb start from MP Motorsport’s Ciao Collet who managed to maintain the lead into Spa-Francorchamp’s iconic first corner, La Source, while Maloney filtered in behind the pole sitter. This put the Trident driver in prime position for an overtake, down the Kemmel Straight.
As the top two drivers raced down towards Les Combes (turns seven and eight), both Collet and Maloney were forced to take the run off area as they carried too much speed into the chicane. When the two drivers returned to the circuit Maloney took the lead, followed by Collet who forced Charouz’s Francesco Pizzi onto the gravel trap.
Maloney was soon ordered to yield track position to both Collet and Campos’ Olli Goethe which dropped him down to P3.
In a bid to climb up the field MP Motorsport’s Kush Maini committed to a divebomb, down the inside of the bus stop chicane, and smashed into the side of Pizzi. Maini was forced to retire from the race with significant damage to his front left suspension, as a result of the contact.
Maini tried to return to the pit lane but he soon collided with ART’s Victor Martins which caused the front nose cone of the MP Motorsport car to separate from its chassis.
The Virtual Safety Car was soon deployed to allow the track marshals to clear away the stranded cars and debris. The VSC was quickly upgraded to a full safety car.
At the end of lap five, the safety car finally peeled back into the pit lane which left Goethe to control the field’s pace. When the pack curled around Blanchimont, turn 18, the rookie Campos driver bolted away to get the race back up to speed but Collet was prepared and remained under the gearbox of Goethe.
By the time they arrived at the braking zone, into Les Combes, Collet had overtaken Goethe down the Kemmel Straight to retake the race lead.
The leader was soon given a five-second time penalty as he was deemed to have re-joined the track in an unsafe manner, on the opening lap. This promoted Maloney into the net race lead.
The safety car was soon redeployed onto the circuit after it was found ART’s Gregoire Saucy was in the barrier, on the exit of Melmedy (turn nine), on lap seven.
Collet got the race back underway with a rather early launch, as they crept around Blanchimont, which allowed Maloney to remain close behind. When the two drivers arrived at Les Combes, Maloney – who was side-by-side with Collet – darted towards the racing line and snatch the race lead away from the MP driver.
Shortly after the restart, Jenzer Motorsport’s Federico Malvestiti was under investigation for a delta time infringement. This investigation was quickly concluded and the Jenzer driver was slapped with a 10-second stop/go penalty.
Goethe looked to be on course to secure the final podium position, in the dying laps of the race, but the Campos rookie went wide on the exit of La Source at the beginning of lap 17.
This put the Campos driver under immediate threat by Prema’s Sprint Race winner, Oliver Bearman, as the two went wheel-to-wheel down towards Eau Rogue. As they reached the compression of Radillion, Bearman thought better of it and backed out of the move.
Although the initial overtake attempt failed, Bearman soon found a way passed Goethe down the Kemmel Straight to snatch the final podium position away from the rookie on the following – and final – lap.
Podium:
- Zane Maloney, Trident
- Roman Stanek, Trident
- Oliver Bearman, Prema
That’s it for the article: Belgian GP: Maloney heads Trident 1-2 in Spa with maiden win! What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more F3 here
- Belgian Sprint Race: Bearman secures win after red flag stop
- F3 Hungarian Sprint: Collet wins after Colapinto mistake
- F3 Austrian Feature: Isack Hadjar converts pole to win in wet conditions
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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.
