Leonardo Fornaroli made it back-to-back Sprint Race victories with a commanding drive at Spa-Francorchamps. Starting from third, the Invicta Racing driver launched into the lead at Turn 1 and led every lap, managing two Safety Car restarts and resisting pressure from Victor Martins to take a mature win. Gabriele Minì surged from eighth to snatch the final podium spot.
Title contenders collide on Lap 1
Fornaroli’s launch was perfect, catapulting past front-row starters Oliver Goethe and Amaury Cordeel into La Source. Behind him, chaos erupted. Championship leader Richard Verschoor, Jak Crawford and Luke Browning came together on the exit of Turn 1. Verschoor spun again at Eau Rouge and retired in the pit lane. Browning was left stranded in the gravel. Crawford made it back to the pits and was able to continue, though his race was heavily compromised.
The Safety Car was called immediately and stayed out until Lap 4.
Cordeel threatens, Martins charges
On the restart, Cordeel remained within half a second of the leader and attempted a move into Les Combes on Lap 6, but Fornaroli held firm. Behind them, Martí’s damaged front wing from Lap 1 contact began to hinder his pace, allowing teammate Arvid Lindblad and a charging pack of Minì, Dunne and Martins to close in.
By Lap 8, Fornaroli had edged just outside DRS range, giving him breathing room as Cordeel began to fall into the clutches of Goethe and Martins. A slide for Goethe through Eau Rouge allowed Martins to use DRS and snatch third on Lap 9.
Further back, a five-car train formed behind Goethe with Martí, Lindblad, Minì, Dunne and Stanek all within range of one another.
Martins vs Cordeel turns costly
Martins wasn’t done. On Lap 12, he swept around the outside of Cordeel at Les Combes, but light contact tipped the Rodin driver into the gravel and out of the race. The Safety Car was deployed again.
Most of the grid opted to switch to Soft tyres under the caution, but Fornaroli, Martins, Goethe, Minì and Cian Shields stayed on Mediums. That decision proved critical.
Green flag racing resumed on Lap 14 of 18. Minì made his move immediately, passing Goethe for third on the Kemmel Straight. Behind them, Martí, Stanek and Dunne got past Shields, with Dunne then diving inside Stanek at Turn 1 one lap later.
While Martí tried to pressure Goethe, the pack of Soft runners found little grip advantage. As the battle settled, a third Safety Car was triggered when Sami Meguetounif stopped on the Kemmel Straight. The race ended behind it.
Fornaroli crossed the line unchallenged for his second consecutive Sprint victory, having also won at Silverstone. Martins secured second after his ambitious drive from sixth. Minì completed a calm and calculated recovery to take third.
Goethe held off Martí for fourth. Stanek came home sixth, Dunne took seventh, and Miyata secured the final point in eighth.
Fornaroli: “Super happy about this one”
Speaking after the race, Fornaroli said:
“Another win, super happy about this one. We got a good start and took the lead into T1. It was very quiet for me at the front, but it was very difficult, firstly to defend from Cordeel and then to manage the restart with Victor. So very happy about the pace, we were very strong, so super happy to take another win and now looking forward to tomorrow.”
Championship standings: top five close up
Richard Verschoor remains at the top of the Drivers’ Championship on 122 points, but his advantage has shrunk. Jak Crawford stays second on 116. Fornaroli’s win lifts him to third on 114, now just eight points off the lead. Alexander Dunne is fourth on 110, with Luke Browning in fifth on 98.
Campos Racing continue to lead the Teams’ standings on 158 points, but Invicta Racing have closed in, now second on 146. DAMS Lucas Oil sit third on 142, with Hitech TGR and MP Motorsport following closely behind on 141 and 139 respectively.
Up next
The Spa weekend wraps up with the Feature Race on Sunday at 10:00 local time. With the top five in the standings now separated by just 24 points, and championship momentum swinging, all eyes turn to strategy, tyre wear, and Spa’s unpredictable skies.