PREMA’s Zak O’Sullivan has bemused a “tricky” Belgian round which ended his challenge for the 2023 F3 title.
O’Sullivan arrived at Spa sat 43 points off championship leader, Gabriel Bortoleto and enjoyed a seventh-placed finish in a wet Practice session, followed by sixth place in a damp Qualifying session to improve his slim title prospects as Bortoleto finished both sessions outside of the top ten.
The Brit however looked set for pole position after setting his final lap in Qualifying but the track proceeded to dry, which meant that he got bumped down to sixth in what he described to PREMA as “quite a tricky session,” despite sixth being “not a bad place to start both races,” in unpredictable weather.
O’Sullivan went on to finish fourth on the road in the Sprint after he took a “surviving” approach to the opening laps, in a race disrupted by three Safety Car periods and stewards’ initial decision to not award points due to less than two laps of green flag racing.
Stewards subsequently reversed their decision concerning points but at the same time handed O’Sullivan a brutal five-second time penalty, after the Brit gained an advantage at Raidillon in his overtake on Hugh Barter on Lap 4 despite Barter having also ran wide at that corner on the same lap.
Speaking post-Sprint about the chaotic race, O’Sullivan described the Sprint as “tricky” during which he made up three places on the first two restarts then reeled in his teammate – Paul Aron only for Bortoleto to stop his car in an unsafe position at the exit of Raidillon to bring the Safety Car back out.
The race subsequently finished behind the Safety Car with the 18 year-old having reduced Bortoleto’s title lead down to 36 points before he was handed his penalty, which dropped him to 15th position and out of the points due to the race having finished behind the Safety Car.
O’Sullivan however took heart from his progress and pace as he explained: “Still, we managed to gain some ground, the pace was strong, a good step for tomorrow.”
O’Sullivan’s bad luck however didn’t improve after PREMA opted to start him on slick tyres for a damp Feature Race, which backfired as the track was too damp for the slick tyre as he eventually finished 12th after sliding down the order as those on wet tyres stormed through.
Track conditions however improved towards the end of the race but O’Sullivan lacked the performance that he had in the Sprint, as he commented: “The track started to dry throughout the race and we didn’t quite have the pace we had yesterday.”
The result also ended O’Sullivan’s title hopes as he slipped to fourth in the standings and five points behind Aron who moved up to second, and both drivers are amongst six drivers mathematically in contention for the Vice-Champion honour given that Bortoleto needs one point to seal the title at Monza.