Carlos Sainz in a class of his own at Spa

With two pole positions and two victories this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, the leader of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, Carlos Sainz (DAMS), ran the table. Sunday, the Red Bull Junior Team driver claimed his fourth triumph of the season ahead of Will Stevens (Strakka Racing) and Oliver Rowland (Fortec Motorsports). The Spaniard leaves Belgium with a 43-point lead from Pierre Gasly (Arden Motorsport), fourth today, and is 50 clear of Oliver Rowland.

This morning, Carlos Sainz took yet another pole, his fifth of the year, with a best lap time of 1:58.319. The Spaniard shared row one with Oliver Rowland (Fortec Motorsports) followed by Will Stevens, Richie Stanaway (Lotus) and Jazeman Jaafar (ISR). .

When the lights went out, the Spaniard held off the attack from Oliver Rowland to hold on to the lead. Will Stevens was close behind, while Matias Laine (Strakka Racing) picked up four positions to slot in fourth. Richie Stanaway re-passed Matias Laine on lap two.

The two leaders pulled away setting fastest laps as they went. While the majority of the chase group made their pit stops, they both opted to come in later on lap 11. Oliver Rowland lost a lot of time, allowing both Will Stevens and Richie Stanaway to gain a position. The New Zealand driver was penalized 20 seconds for making his stop outside the mandatory pit stop window.

In the lead, Carlos Sainz controlled his lead to take the win with a 12-second margin of victory from Will Stevens. With his penalty, Richie Stanaway dropped to eighth place, allowing Oliver Rowland to claim the final spot on the podium. Pierre Gasly and Norman Nato (DAMS) completed the top five, followed by Jazeman Jaafar and Matias Laine. Meindert van Buuren (Pons Racing) and Marco Sorensen (Tech 1 Racing) rounded out the top ten.

Carlos Sainz: ” I will keep this weekend in my memories. Spa is one of my favourite circuits and one of the greatest. Today, the team played a huge part in the win. We improved our pace in qualifying, then we put in a perfect pit stop although Oliver Rowland seemed to be faster in the race. The overall outcome from the weekend is perfect, but it could all be different in Moscow.”

Will Stevens: ”Even though I wanted to win, second place is good for both the team and I. We made a lot of changes overnight and they allowed us to do better than yesterday. We are heading in the right direction for the rest of the season and this is a good point tally for the championship.”

Oliver Rowland: ”I have to thank the team for the brilliant work they did. The car was a lot more competitive than yesterday. We had high hopes, but I had a problem during my pit stop. I engaged the clutch and the motor stopped. It is just a shame we couldn’t challenge Carlos after that.”

World Series by Renault