Spa Francorchamps – Juan Manuel concluded the most exciting weekend of the season in the FIA F3 Belgium GP finishing in 22nd place in the third race after starting 27th.
Only one qualifying session together with the inverted grids penalizes anyone that fails in qualifying and that is what happened to Juan Manuel on Friday.
It was the most exciting weekend of this FIA F3 season for what it meant to be back as a driver on this circuit, still one of his favorites.
“Thursday wasn’t easy emotionally. Being back here as a driver for the first time. Visiting where the accident took place wasn’t either . Obviously, during the races I thought about it, even yesterday when we nearly repeated it. There was a crash going up Eau Rouge, a car crashed and crossed the track. I missed it by 2 meters. I was a bit scared but apart from that it was positive to come here. I got more confidence in this track, which I like.”.
In the sports side it wasn’t a dream weekend, specially because of the starting grid system and having only one qualifying.
A problem in Qualifying ruins the whole weekend. In fact, the three races were won by the drivers on pole. Colombo in the first and Doohan in the other two.
“Due to the crash in Qualifying I had to start from the back of the grid in the three races. It was a constant battle to gain positions. But with the rain and without using drs it was difficult to improve. In this championship if you don’t start in the top 10, it’s complicated to get points, said Juan Manuel, who always sees the glass half empty.
“Competing under these conditions was a good practice. It helped me get confidence with the car, which I need. We’ll concentrate on the qualifying that is very important and hopefully in Zandvoort we’ll have a good session and we’ll be able to start on top and get points. I think we have the speed and I’m confident with the car to be in the top 5 and stay there”.
In this last race the starting grid was formed with the qualifying times and Juan Manuel started from 27 and ended 22. The race was again under the rain and with standing start behind the safety car. Despite the great quantity of water, the safety car didn’t need to appear so the next 14 laps were uninterrupted.
With the track completely wet and 12 degrees, the 29 drivers started with Doohan on top, followed by Martins and Smolyar, who finished in the same order.
At the start, Juan Manuel started in the outside and recovered two places and in the next lap he was 24th. A very close race in a big group allowed Juan Manuel to gain two places and finish 22nd.
