Win No 2 for Joel Eriksson

• Joel Eriksson continues to extend championship lead
• P2 for Lando Norris making his F4 debut at Spa-Francorchamps
• Eriksson: “So far, the weekend has gone perfectly for me”

Spa-Francorchamps: Joel Eriksson (17, SWE, Motopark) and Spa-Francorchamps seem made for each other. After winning Race 1 on Saturday, the Motopark driver has now triumphed in the second of the three races on the legendary Ardennes rollercoaster, watched on this occasion by FIA President Jean Todt. The championship leader has thus emerged victorious from four out of the last five races.

Also putting in an impressive performance was Lando Norris (15, GBR, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport). On his first ever ADAC Formula 4 race weekend, the 15-year-old has now notched up a second-place finish. The single-seater series rookie was also competing at Spa-Francorchamps for the first time. Robert Shwartzman (15, RUS, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) finished third to make it a successful afternoon for the kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport outfit.

“So far, the weekend has gone perfectly for me,” said Spa double winner Eriksson. After the runaway victory on Saturday, the Swedish youngster allowed his opponents to make him sweat a little today. In the closing laps and with the track still wet, he fought a spectacular duel with Norris. The series newcomer, who had started from sixth on the grid, clung on tenaciously and made several attempts to overtake. However, Eriksson kept his nerve and crossed the finish line with a gap of around half a second.

Norris exploits confused situation at the start

Having finished fourth the day before and only just missed out on a podium in his first ADAC Formula 4 race, Norris got off to a magnificent start, thereby laying the groundwork for his subsequent success. Ralf Aron (17, EST, Prema Powerteam) starting from second, Janneau Esmeijer (18, NED, HTP Junior Team) from third and Guan Yu Zhou (16, CHN, Prema Powerteam) from fifth all failed to get off the line smartly in difficult weather conditions, allowing Shwartzman and Norris to take up the chase behind Eriksson.

The race leader built up a comfortable gap and looked untroubled even at the restart after a safety car deployment on the sixth lap. A minor deviation from the line by Eriksson two laps later present an opportunity to Norris who had in the meantime overtaken Shwartzman. But even when the teenager from Bristol set the fastest lap time of the race on the final lap, this still wasn’t enough to deprive the more experienced Eriksson of victory.

Best result yet for Harrison Newey

Behind the Top Three, Aron pretty much drove his own race to cross the finish line in fourth place. This result took the Prema Powerteam driver up to second in the championship. Harrison Newey (16, GBR, Van Amersfoort Racing), whose father, Formula 1 designer Adrian, watched the proceedings live in the team garage, came fifth, his best result in ADAC Formula 4 so far. The Van Amersfoort Racing youngster took the position off Marvin Dienst (18, GER, HTP Junior Team) after the safety car period and then successfully held off the challenge from the current third-placed driver in the championship.

Joey Mawson (19, AUS, Van Amersfoort Racing) and Janneau Esmeijer completed the Top Eight in the eighth round of the 2015 season. Marek Böckmann (18, GER, Jenzer Motorsport) claimed his first points of the season with a ninth-place finish which also puts him into pole position for the final race on Sunday afternoon (starts 17:00, with live coverage on SPORT1).

Eriksson continues to extend lead

Race winner Eriksson was thus able to build on his lead in the championship. Having so far scored a maximum 50 points out 50 in Belgium, his lead has now grown to a formidable 124 points. Meanwhile, the battle for second is being closely fought. There are only three points separating Aron (83), Dienst (81) and Mawson (80) in positions two to four respectively

Comments from the podium

Joel Eriksson (17, SWE, Motopark), Winner: “So far, the weekend has gone perfectly for me. My start was very good, and I immediately built up a lead in order to stop the opposition benefiting from my slipstream. My car was super today, and I was able to pull away from the rest of the field without any problem. After the safety car period, I soon built up another gap and decided to go a bit slower so as not to take any risks. However, I came off the line on Turn 3 and suddenly found that my pursuers were close behind. I was watching Lando in my rear-view mirror and knew exactly where he would mount an attack, so I had no problem in responding and defending P1.”

Lando Norris (15, GBR, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport), Second: “This is only my second ADAC Formula 4 race, so I’m absolutely delighted to have finished on the podium. I feel I could have done even better. As soon as I had overtaken Robert, I attacked the race leader. It was an intense battle fought over several laps. I made one attempt on the final corner which unfortunately didn’t come off. My speed was superior to his, but overtaking was difficult. This weekend is the first time I have competed at Spa-Francorchamps, and I’ve hardly experienced any laps in the rain. So as you can imagine, I’m all the more satisfied with this result.”

Robert Shwartzman (15, RUS, kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport), Third: “I’m really happy about my second podium of the weekend. I’ve never driven in the wet here before. I got off to a really great start, and after one lap, I was already up to P2. I was putting pressure on the race leader and pulling out a gap on the pursuing group. But unfortunately, the safety car then bunched us all up together again. My team-mate Lando was directly behind me. At first, I managed to defend my position. But in these conditions, it was better to let him go past and be sure of finishing third.”