Michael Meadows picked up his fifth podium finish of the British F3 International Series season at Spa to maintain his third place in the National Class standings.
On his first visit to the famed Belgian circuit, the Double R man opened up with the sixth fastest time in opening practice having completed 11 laps, and then improved to third quickest in the second session, and closing on second placed rival Cheng Cong Fu, despite struggling with gearbox issues. The two qualifying sessions saw Meadows showing his consistency with third fastest lap in each of the sessions, a particularly strong effort as many of his rivals had previous experience of racing at Spa.
From his third in class position, Meadows lined up for the grid with the weather dry and cloudy for the opening race. An uncharacteristic slow start off the line dropped the young Briton back to fifth in class, but with a better pace than his rivals ahead, he quickly started to chase them down.
Salman Al Khalifa was unable to resist the persistence of a hard-charging Meadows and after five laps of close racing, he was soon through to fourth. Hunting down Hamad Al Fardan four seconds ahead was Meadows' next challenge and he set his sights on this goal as the race progressed.
He made up ground over the course of the race, but was unable to get close enough to make a move and by the chequered flag had to settle for fourth place.
Torrential rain forced organisers to start the second race behind the Safety Car, with racing only getting underway on lap three. There was little chance of attacking in the atrocious conditions and when the Safety Car returned on lap seven after Ricardo Teixera spun off track, it stayed out until the chequered flag eliminating any further opportunities to improve from his third in class start place.
