The Barbados Motoring Federation (BMF) was quick to congratulate Barbadian Zane Maloney on his first victory in the FIA Formula 3 Championship at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium yesterday Less than 24 hours after he rolled into retirement following heavy contact in the Sprint Race, the 18-year-old led team-mate Roman Stanek home in the feature race in Trident Motorsport’s first double podium of the season.
BMF president Senator Andrew Mallalieu, who watched Maloney’s win in person as he was chairman of the FIA F2 Stewards at Spa, said: “What a great day for Zane, for island motor sport, for Bushy Park where he first learned his craft and for the BMF. Our mission has always been to see a Barbadian driver on the world stage and Zane winning today makes me hugely proud, a feeling I know is shared by the many fans back home who were up early to follow the race.
“To hear our National Anthem and see the Broken Trident raised after Maloney’s Formula Regional win at the Monaco GP last year was an emotional moment, but this caps even that. He certainly knows how to win on some of the world’s most iconic and demanding circuits, and his ability to refocus after his enormous sprint race accident yesterday [Saturday] and go on to win today [Sunday] shows that he is truly made of the stuff of champions.”
Sunday’s maximum score plus the bonus point for fastest lap has promoted Maloney to seventh in the standings, with two rounds over the next two weekends at Zandvoort and Monza. An elated Maloney said: “Obviously very happy to get the first win in F3. Who would have thought that would happen after yesterday, so amazing job to the team – this win is only for them. Honestly, they’ve done an amazing job, they didn’t have any sleep and I was able to go out there and win for them. So big celebrations tonight and thank you for everyone’s support and also in Barbados as well for all the support.”
At just over 7.0 kilometres, Spa is the longest circuit on the calendar and often prone to changeable weather, as in Friday qualifying. On a wet to drying track, times tumbled towards the end of the session, with Maloney on pole position as the chequered flag fell, only to lose out by two-tenths to Caio Collet who was following him round that final lap. Saturday’s sprint race started in dry but chilly conditions, Maloney leaping from his reverse grid 11th slot to seventh on the opening lap, after which an immediate Safety Car period neutralised the field until the start of lap six. After the restart, however, heavy contact between Maloney and Oliver Goethe resulted in both retiring, Maloney’s car flipping over.
In the feature race, Maloney passed Collet on lap one, but had veered off across the run-off area at Les Combes while doing so, so was instructed to give the place back, by which time Goethe had taken the lead from Collet, so Maloney was third. He moved up to second with his first fastest lap on the only racing lap before the Safety Car came out for the second time on lap 7, snatching the lead round the outside at Les Combes when racing resumed again on lap 11. And there he remained, controlling a gap of just over 1sec to Stanek until the flag. (RB)
