Van der Merwe wins Shortened Spa F3 Race

31 August 2003

Alan van der Merwe mastered the daunting Spa-Francorchamps track today (Saturday 30 August) to win the first in the pair of rounds of the 2003 British F3 Championship gripped by AVON Tyres.

In a wet race that was curtailed during the sixth lap, van der Merwe (Carlin Motorsport) battled ahead of Nelson Piquet Jnr (Piquet Sport) to be in front when the result was taken at five laps. With Rizal Ramli (Team SYR) crashing heavily at Stavelot and needing medical assistance, the race was halted and not re-started. As the race had not run the required distance, only half championship points were awarded. Ramli was taken to hospital for further checks.

Piquet got the jump on van der Merwe at the start, but the championship leader was soon on the attack and when Piquet made an error at Les Combes, van der Merwe seized his chance. The Carlin car got up alongside before edging ahead. But that was not the end of Piquet's problems, as Jamie Green (Carlin Motorsport) pulled off a similar move at the same corner to edge Piquet back to third.

While Green started to probe the defences of van der Merwe, Piquet came under pressure from Will Power (Fortec Motorsport) and into Les Combes for the sixth time, Power edged ahead. However, with Ramli's car and several others off the track, the red flag was shown and the race halted. Results were declared at five laps, which put Piquet back to third at the expense of Power.

"That helps my championship situation," said van der Merwe. "But I wish it was full points!" Green, meanwhile, had shown the pace to win had the race run the full 11-lap distance. "I've proved that I'm quick round here, and I think I could have got him," reckoned Green.

In the Scholarship class, Ernesto Viso (P1 Motorsport) revelled in the conditions and shot ahead of both of his championship rivals to take victory. Steven Kane (T Sport) had a torrid opening lap after a spin and battled home back in fourth behind his team mate Karun Chandhok and Justin Sherwood (Performance Racing).

See series calendar for British F3 Championship

Related Story 22.08.2003 - Spa Challenge for British F3/GT Teams