Spa F3.5: Vaxiviere takes SMP's first win amid wet-weather mayhem

The first 10 minutes of the race took place behind the safety car - and for good reason as, once the race begun, the number of cars in contention started to drop immediately.

With poleman Dillmann leading the field in torrential rain, a number of cars took to the pits as soon as possible, led by Force India test driver Alfonso Celis.

Immediately, Egor Orudzhev was ruled out of the race, due to what appeared to be pitlane contact and, as Dillmann and several fellow frontrunners pitted on the next lap, two shunts brought the safety car back out on track.

First, Matevos Isaakyan spun around at Les Combes and, shortly thereafter, Johnny Cecotto mounted the rear wing of Roy Nissany at Eau Rouge, the duo heading into the barriers at a high speed - albeit both appear to have emerged from their cars unhurt.

Another lengthy intermission followed, the pack now led by Aurelien Panis and Rene Binder - albeit both were yet to stop.

They would do so when the race restarted with mere minutes left on the clock, seemingly handing victory to Dillmann, only for him to spin on entry to Les Combes and give up first place to Vaxiviere.

From that point on, Vaxiviere reigned supreme, finishing six seconds up on Dillmann, with Celis taking his first podium in Formula V8 3.5 in third.

Despite going straight on at La Source at the very start of the race, Vitor Baptista recovered to claim fourth, with Panis and Binder taking fifth and sixth after their late stops.

It was seventh for Yu Kanamaru, whose teammate Beitske Visser looked set for a top-five finish before stopping on track with three laps to go.

As a result, Italian gentleman driver Giuseppe Cipriani was the last driver to take the chequered flag, placing eighth.

Race results

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time/Gap
1	Matthieu Vaxiviere	SMP Racing	43:24.368
2	Tom Dillmann	AVF	6.268
3	Alfonso Celis	AVF	10.277
4	Vitor Baptista	RP Motorsport	17.636
5	Aurelien Panis	Arden Motorsport	20.715
6	Rene Binder	Lotus	36.885
7	Yu Kanamaru	Teo Martin Motorsport	42.023
8	Giuseppe Cipriani	Durango Racing Team	58.157
9	Beitske Visser	Teo Martin Motorsport	3 Laps
10	Pietro Fittipaldi	Fortec Motorsports	6 Laps
Ret	Roy Nissany	Lotus
Ret	Johnny Cecotto	RP Motorsport
Ret	Matevos Isaakyan	SMP Racing
Ret	Egor Orudzhev	Arden Motorsport
Ret	Louis Deletraz	Fortec Motorsports