PREMA’s Oliver Bearman is happy with his “big step in pace” in Belgium despite another blow to his F2 title dreams.
Bearman entered the round sat 59 points off his teammate Frederik Vesti but endured a tricky Practice session in damp conditions, which left him sat 14th fastest heading into Qualifying.
Such is the unpredictability of Spa-Francorchamps and an early red flag in Qualifying before anyone could set a lap time, Bearman benefitted from being second out onto track at the restart as he snatched pole from Vesti just as heavy rain swept in to prevent his pole time being beaten.
Speaking post-Qualifying to PREMA about his third pole position of the season, Bearman admitted that he was “lucky” to have track position when he did, yet felt that he had simply “managed to do a clean lap, make no mistakes and put everything together.”
Bearman however stuttered to a 12th placed finish in the Sprint Race as he struggled for “overall pace” on his medium tyres, although he was also shunted wide on the exit of Les Combes by Arthur Leclerc when running tenth which dropped him behind the Monegasque and Isack Hadjar.
Fortunes however looked to had improved for the 18 year-old Ferrari junior as he enjoyed a strong start to the Feature Race from pole position, as he fought off Pourchaire until the latter jumped him on Lap 15 during their pit stops for the medium tyre.
The Safety Car was then deployed a lap later which allowed Jack Doohan to jump Bearman for second with a free pit stop, which left the Brit running third but he struggled with brake temperature on the restart and conseuqently slipped away from Pourchaire and Doohan.
Bearman eventually finished fourth after he was passed by Victor Martins on Lap 22 into Les Combes despite sliding into the Frenchman under braking on a damp line into the corner, yet was promoted to third after Martins received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pits.
Stewards however took a harsh view of Bearman’s braking mistake and contact with Martins in slippy conditions, and handed him a five-second time penalty which dropped Bearman to seventh in the classification.
The result consequently left Bearman sat 66 points off the title lead claimed by Pourchaire after Vesti spun out on his way to the grid, with three rounds to go in the season.
Bearman however was happy with how he is heading into the summer break, as he concluded: “The positive is the big step in pace from yesterday so we can be happy about that even if there was a lot other than that today.”
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