Lotus driver Daniel Abt, who started the race from third on the grid, held third place behind the Portuguese Felix da Costa and New Zealander Mitch Evans after two laps. “I knew that I had to stay cool and just had to wait for the right moment,” said Abt. The 19-year old saw his chance as da Costa and Evans fought for the lead. “I know these guys so well and knew that they would brake extremely late,” explained the Kempten racer, who eased past both opponents in a single courageous manoeuvre. “I overtook Evans in the first right hander, stayed on the outside for the following left hand corner and so also got squeezed past Felix da Costa. Afterwards da Costa wanted to retake the position, but I was able to increase my lead.” The race, which had already been shortened to 25 minutes due to a delay, was interrupted on the fourth lap by a red flag following an accident.
“I’m absolutely delighted about this win. It’s my first victory since the end of 2010. We were very strong in our debut GP3 Series season, but up to now it hadn’t been enough for a win. Of all the places, I never expected that I would win at Spa,” rejoiced Daniel Abt.
The Lotus driver also scored important points in the second race on Sunday. After having started eighth, he had already moved up to sixth when he was touched by a fellow competitor. “I lost about five places because of this and my car was damaged,” explained Abt, who fought his way back up to fifth position with a storming drive.
“On the whole, my upshot of the weekend is completely positive. Qualifying went well for us; pole position would even have been possible if I hadn’t been blocked on my last lap. Both races went very well, we had excellent pace,” analysed the Lotus driver.
However, the German does not have much time to savour the Spa victory: this coming weekend (7-9 September) the GP3 Series season finale is on the agenda at Monza, Italy. “Monza is new circuit for me,” says Daniel Abt. “I only know this track from the simulator, we can certainly expect some exciting slipstreaming battles there. It goes without saying that I’m highly motivated after the victory in Belgium and want to finish the last race of my debut GP3 season on a particularly high note.”
