Spa: Rounds 21, 22 preview

Spa Showdown for Piquet, Rossiter and Carroll

The Avon Tyres British Formula Three Championship heads to Spa Francorchamps in Belgium next weekend with the possibility that Nelson Piquet Jr can emulate Michael Schumacher and seal the title at the Grand Prix venue.

Piquet currently stands 39 points clear of Briton James Rossiter with Carroll another 12 points further back. Just 84 points are available between now and the final race at Brands Hatch next month and the Brazilian's rivals know that they cannot afford any poor results from now on. If he comes away from the weekend with a 44 point lead, he will snatch the F3 crown.

A non-finish for Piquet in the first race at Thruxton over the Bank Holiday weekend gave Rossiter and Carroll the chance to close the gap at the top of the points table. However, he bounced back with second place and fastest lap in race two, while Rossiter took fourth and Carroll struggled to seventh place.

The Spa circuit should provide two thrilling F3 races, with the opening lap run down to the ultra fast Eau Rouge corner being one of the most breathtaking and exciting spectacles for the fans and the drivers.

Away from the battle for the championship, there will be plenty of other action as the rest of the grid will want to make their mark at the famous track. Double Thruxton race winner Lucas Di Grassi will be on a high after last weekend and he might be one to throw a spanner in the works for the three title chasers.

Clivio Piccione and Alvaro Parente have both won races this season and are still mathematically in with a chance of catching Rossiter and Carroll if they fail to score over the last four races. They will be looking to step onto the top step of the podium once more before the end of the season.

Australian Will Power is the only driver inside the top ten who has not taken victory so far this year. He is another driver who will want to break into the winners circle at the weekend.

Danny Watts will also be hoping that the high speed circuit suits the Lola-Dome chassis so that he can challenge the Dallara drivers and possibly take another victory like he did at Castle Combe earlier in the season.

Ryan Lewis put the Scholarship Class title out of Stephen Jelley's reach at Thruxton. However, Jelley will need to keep scoring to stop Frenchman Vasilije Calasan from snatching the runner-up place from him before the end of the season.

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