FIA Formula 3 in Spa
The last race weekend for Formula 3 before the summer break took place at the world famous Spa-Francorchamps race track located in the beautiful Ardennen area of Belgium. This area is also known for its special weather conditions. It rained almost the whole weekend, which meant particularly difficult and unpredictable conditions for our drivers.
After a good qualifying by Taylor Barnard with the 10th place, he started the sprint race from the third position on the grid. With a great launch of the line he moved quickly up to second position and had a three car fight down the Kemmel-straight for the lead of the race. Taylor held his ground and led the race after the first sector. After that the race was interrupted by the Safety-Car multiple times. In the end Taylor Barnard finished in second place, securing his first podium finish of the season in Formula 3.
Nikita Bedrin came very close to the points in the sprint race again. Starting in 18th position he improved seven positions in the race to finish 11th. Sophia Flörsch started the race in 24th place and moved all the way up to 12th place in the race with tricky conditions. The track wasn’t completely dry, but the slick tyre was the better option for the race. Every single mistake was punished immediately. Roberto Faria and Michael Shin both improved their positions in the race as well.
The conditions for the feature race on Sunday morning were even more difficult than on the day before. Shortly before the race it started to drizzle and nobody on the grid was sure which tyre was the right one for the race. Slicks or rain tyres? Taylor Barnard starting from 10th, Nikita Bedrin starting from 18th and Sophia Flörsch starting from 24th were only a few drivers on the grid choosing the rain tyres. Most of the drivers choosed the slicks, but already through the first sector it was clearly visible the drivers with slick tyres struggled a lot in the conditions. Our three drivers had a lot to do driving past all the drivers with the wrong tyre fitted to their cars. After the first lap Taylor was in second place, Nikita in 4th and Sophia in 7th place. In total the three drivers made up 39 positions in just one lap. Also Roberto Faria moved up 19 positions in the first three laps of the race, but after a following Safety-Car period he chose to change for slick tyres, like the leader of the race. With that Taylor moved up to the first place and Nikita to the third place. A few laps before the end Taylor Barnard has to show all his defending skills at the end of the Kemmel-straight. Christian Mansell gave him a hard time, chasing for the win of the race. But Taylor kept cool and defended the inside line for a couple of laps, to secure his first win in FIA Formula 3 in just his Rookie season with Jenzer Motorsport. Nikita Bedrin came home in third place, making it a double podium for PHM Racing drivers. Sophia Flörsch becomes the first female driver to score points in the history of FIA F3 and provides the first points for PHM Racing in the rookie season for the team.
We are very proud of the whole team for scoring the first points of the season and also of Taylor Barnard for taking his first Formula 3 win with our partner team Jenzer Motorsport. With the third place for Nikita Bedrin it’s their fourth podium in the last four races.
We will keep that momentum running for the last round of the Championship at Monza after the summer break. This is a great success for the team and shows what great potential there is in each individual. We will see you on track again soon.
