Spa NEC: Norris controls wet Race 1

Unlike the European Formula 3 race which started behind the safety car, the 2.0 NEC's first race had a standing start despite the rain.

Norris held the lead going into Turn 1 from Dorian Boccolacci but third-place starter Sacha Fenestraz spun in the first corner to drop to 13th at the end of Lap 1.

The field was bunched up soon with the safety car period, after guest driver Ghislain Cordeel crashed out at Les Combes.

But even a restart didn’t deter Josef Kaufmann Racing’s Norris as he took his third win of season beating Boccolacci by a mammoth 8.155s.

The Tech 1 Racing driver fended off a late surge from JD Motorsport’s James Allen, who took his maiden podium, 1.018s off Boccolacci at the finish line.

Both MBM's Alex Gill and AVF's Henrique Chaves made up four places to claim their season’s best-result of fourth and fifth place respectively.

Josef Kaufmann’s Robert Shwartzman and Jehan Daruvala were sixth and seventh, the Indian having dropped places at the start, but able to make up one place by overtaking Julien Falchero.

R-ace GP's Falchero took eighth, having also made up chunk of positions from 13th on the grid.

Guest driver and last weekend's Euroformula Open race winner Antoni Ptak was ninth, the Polish driver surviving a hit from Fenestraz on the run-up to the finish line.

The Tech 1 Racing driver then tussled with teammate Gabriel Aubry to hold on to a top-10 finish.

Race 1 results: