The rain only got heavier as Javier Sagrera won the sole race in Eurocup-3’s controversial season opener at Spa-Francorchamps. Inclement weather cancelled several sessions during the weekend and led to multiple collisions on the climb up Eau Rouge.

By Juan Arroyo

Javier Sagrera struck first in this year’s title fight – albeit under unusual circumstances.

Heavy rain and hail led to the cancellation of all practice and qualifying sessions on Friday as well as the second race due to be held on Saturday.

Sagrera took a lights-to-flag victory in a rain-affected race one that featured extended safety car periods. He managed the two restarts successfully and brought home his maiden win in the series as he began his quest for the title.

But the race itself was controversial. There were a total of four green-flag laps, and proof of the dangers of running in those conditions came at the end of the race, when three drivers spun out in the climb up Eau Rouge, one of them colliding with an already stranded car.

Sagrera’s maiden win

It was far from the way Sagrera would have liked to take his first victory in single-seaters – but it was a victory regardless.

Because of the cancellation of practice and qualifying, the starting order for the first race was taken from the results of Thursday’s second collective test.

The MP Motorsport driver was set to start second by virtue of this decision behind polesitter Owen Tangavelou, who was to become the first Vietnamese driver to start from pole in a European single-seater series.

But the 19-year-old encountered issues with his throttle body pre-race, gifting Sagrera first place on the grid. He became the second MP driver with issues after Bruno del Pino failed to set a meaningful time on Thursday because of mechanical trouble.

The field began the race behind the safety car because the track was still deemed too wet for drivers to go racing under green. They spent 12 minutes out of the 30-minute plus one lap race duration weaving to keep the tyres warm while they waited for the surface to dry – at which point the safety car peeled off into the pits and the racing finally got underway.

It took four minutes, or two laps, for the safety car to be needed again, this time after GRS’ Nikola Tsolov ended up in the barriers at the exit of Pouhon and Campos’ Noah Lisle stopped just after Turn 11 with an electrical issue that completely cut his car’s power.

Around four minutes later, during that safety car period, the other Campos of Christian Ho ground to a halt courtesy of another electrical issue. It has not been an ideal start for title favourite Ho, who was one of several Campos drivers to suffer technical problems in the Aragón non-championship round.

The safety car period ended with time for two more laps. The rain was intensifying, and visibility was quickly reduced by the field’s spray at racing speeds.

Sagrera had to defend at the restart as Abkhazava attempted to pass him on the outside line into Les Combes. The Saintéloc driver was squeezed and resorted to cutting the corner before returning the lead to Sagrera shortly after.

The rain only got heavier as they headed into the final lap. Sagrera had reached Les Combes when Drivex’s Nick Gilkes spun and crashed heading up Eau Rouge, catalysing the weekend’s most controversial talking point.

A lesson not learned

Gilkes, Palou’s Luciano Morano, and Gaspard Le Gallais spun and crashed going through the Eau Rouge/Raidillon section on the final lap of the race. Drivex driver Le Gallais, who was at the back of the pack, aquaplaned into Morano’s stranded car just before the Kemmel Straight.

Conditions had significantly worsened as Sagrera led the field into the final lap. Visibility was already poor, but the spray from cars ahead virtually blinded every driver’s view. Add to that increasingly heavy rain – and the subsequent lack of grip – and race directors ended up with a dangerous scenario on their hands.

It’s been less than a year since FRECA driver Dilano van ’t Hoff lost his life in an accident in similar conditions at the very same venue. The accident remains in the back of viewers’ and drivers’ minds.

FRECA driver Alessandro Giusti and F3 driver Santiago Ramos took to social media to criticise the race direction at the end of the Eurocup-3 race. Both were on track in Spa when Van ’t Hoff suffered his fatal accident last year.

“We’ll never learn from Spa on heavy rain,” Giusti said on X (formerly Twitter).

We’ll never learn from spa on heavy rain https://t.co/0GtOV2Jhiu

— giusti alessandro (@aless10kart) April 19, 2024

Meanwhile, Ramos posted an Instagram story with a caption that read, “This is just unacceptable… Same mistakes are being made, looks like they didn’t learn from the mistakes in the past!”

It must be noted that the multi-car accident that claimed Van ’t Hoff’s life took place just after a safety car restart. Meanwhile, the Eurocup-3 pack was more spread out, as the safety car period had ended one lap prior.

We will never know for sure whether the Eurocup-3 race directors would have acted differently had the field been closer together. However, there were signs on the lap prior to Gilkes, Morano and Le Gallais’ accidents that bringing out a red flag would have been a prescient decision.

Header photo credit: Niels Broekema / Dutch Photo Agency