The second part of the second double-header of the season took place in Spa-Francorchamps. Overall the weekend was very wet, with lots of rain showers coming down throughout the sessions. Especially on Friday, which gave us a unique qualifying session.
Due to the rain and the limited sets of rain tyres, lots of drivers waited quite a long time before taking part in the only practice session of the weekend. With 19 minutes left on the clock, both MP drivers went out on the wet track. Right before the end of the session, Dennis managed to set the second-fastest time and Jehan finished the session in P13. Before qualifying started it was dry, but all teams knew within minutes the rain would pour down again. The MP drivers went out quickly and although not able to set a complete fast lap due to rain in the final sector, it was enough for Dennis and Jehan to have a top 10 qualifying result. Dennis qualified in P6 and Jehan in P10, meaning he would start the Sprint Race from pole position.
Jehan had a great start during the Sprint Race and immediately started creating a gap. Unfortunately, his race was quickly finished when he had to enter the pits due to his headrest coming loose. A pin securing the headrest broke off and due to safety reasons, drivers are not allowed to drive without a headrest. Dennis lost some positions during the start but had a great comeback and found grip after the opening laps. He finished in fourth, but due to post-race penalties, he got promoted to third place.
We were much less fortunate during the Feature Race. In the opening laps, Dennis got touched by Iwasa, spun around and lost the engine. With a push from the marshals downhill he got it running again but was disqualified moments later due to the push of the marshals. Jehan was having a decent race but ended up with damage when fighting for positions and also had to retire his race by lap 16.
Driver standings after round 11:
P9 Dennis – 82 points
P12 Jehan – 53 points
Team standings after round 11:
P5 – 135 points
The Formula 2 team has now entered their summer break and will be back in the final week of August for our home GP in Zandvoort.
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