Spa Challenge for British F3/GT Teams

22 August 2003

The awesome challenge of one of the greatest race tracks in the world awaits the British F3 and British GT Championship contenders over the weekend of 30/31 August. The Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium will play host to rounds 19 and 20 of the British F3 Championship gripped by AVON Tyres, and round ten of the British GT Championship.

Despite scoring his first non-finish of the season last time out at Thruxton, Alan van der Merwe still has a tight grip on the title and will arrive in Belgium 64 points ahead of his Carlin Motorsport team mate Jamie Green. That non-finish at Thruxton after a clash with Eric Salignon left van der Merwe with a sore hand, but he is expected to be fully fit for the Spa races. Should van der Merwe outscore Green by 20 points in the course of the Belgian weekend, he would clinch the title, but given Green's race winning form at Thruxton that is still a long shot option. Nevertheless, van der Merwe could take another big step towards the title by scoring strongly at Spa.

While Green retains an outside chance of snatching the title from van der Merwe, he will also be concentrating on consolidating second place over Nelson Piquet Junior. The daunting Belgian track is yet another new challenge for Piquet, and he will be eager to put the memory of a troubled weekend at Thruxton firmly behind him.

Others with a real possibility of victory at Spa include Ronnie Bremer, Richard Antinucci and Renault pair Danny Watts and Salignon. Along with Robert Dahlgren and Will Power, they will be hoping that the strong Thruxton pace of the Renault engines will continue at Spa. However, many eyes will be on Adam Carroll in the Menu F3 Motorsport car. Despite limited funds, Carroll has been on the podium in six of the last 10 races and will surely take victory soon.

The F3 Scholarship class is very evenly matched heading for Spa as Steven Kane, Karun Chandhok and Ernesto Viso go head to head for the title. Just 16 points cover the three drivers with six races still to run this season, so the contest really is wide open.

A cracking entry will tackle the penultimate round of the British GT Championship, which runs in conjunction with the 1000km round of the FIA Sportscar Championship. This race, expected to last around five hours, will be the most demanding race in the history of the British GT Championship and could be crucial in deciding the outcome of the title. Currently, the Eclipse Motorsport TVR T400R of Shane Lynch and Piers Johnson has a two-point advantage over the Mosler MT900R of Shaun Balfe and Jamie Derbyshire. Should the TVR take maximum points and the Mosler fail to score, Lynch and Johnson would win the title, but a final round showdown at Brands Hatch on September 28 seems more likely. Also still firmly in contention, despite a nightmare weekend at Thruxton, is Tom Herridge in the Rollcentre Racing Mosler.

However, the presence of the pair of DeWalt TVR T400Rs from Le Mans with an all-star driver line-up will be a major factor in what is set to be a real test of man and machine. The Eclipse squad has drafted Simon Pullan in to share the TVR for the race, while the Balfe Motorsport team has secured the services of GT ace Tommy Erdos for the weekend.

In the GT Cup class, the Porsche of Patrick Pearce and Matt Griffin sealed the title with yet another victory at Thruxton and will now start the Spa enduro as favourites to win again. However, Neil Cunningham and Adam Sharpe will be strong contenders in the Morgan Aero 8.

After free practice on Friday (29 August), Saturday features qualifying for both races as well as the first F3 race. The second F3 race is on Sunday morning, with the 1000km race due to start at 12.50pm and run for 144 laps.

See series calendar for British GT Championship | British F3 Championship

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