2011 Belgian Grand Prix

25px **2011 Belgian Grand Prix**
Race details
Race {{{Race_No}}} of the 2011 Superleague season

Date	October 6th, 2011
Official name	2011 Belgian Grand Prix
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Course	Road Course 4.352 mi / 7.004 km
Distance	44 laps, 191.410 mi / 308.052 km
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Joe Consiglio	Nordsjoen-Mercedes
Time	1:41.835
Fastest Lap
Driver	Joe Consiglio	Nordsjoen-Mercedes
Time	1:42.490
Podium
First	Joe Consiglio	Nordsjoen-Mercedes
Second	David Jundt	Red Archer-Renault
Third	Pavel Loknovski	Nordsjoen-Mercedes

The 2011 Belgian Grand Prix for the Superleague - the 18th race of the season - took place at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium on the 6th of October.

Report

Nordsjoen Racing's Joe Consiglio moved within a step of his second World Championship with a commanding win as Lee Morris failed to finish in Spa-Francorchamps, while Red Archer retained the lead in the Constructors' Championship.

Qualifying

After giving up the lead in the standings for the first time in the season, Morris came to Spa-Francorchamps to try and push his Nordsjoen rival, but could only muster a fifth place in qualifying as Consiglio and Pavel Loknovski clinched the whole front row. David Jundt of Red Archer slotted in third, while the two Midnights of Dave Carr-Smith and returning Adam Rouse started either side of Morris. Sam Millar's Synergetic was in seventh position, ahead of Gregg Lawson - the English driver sufffering through a problem-riddled qualifying session.

Race

The start of the race was to have serious - possibly decisive - repercussions for the Championship. While the top rows got off the line without problems, a slow start by Morris saw him punted by Millar into the wall and in the path of Mark Wicks, resulting in heavy damage for the Draig driver. The Welsh team's misfortunes weren't over, however, as behind the start trouble Phil Perkins swerved right in the path of Ben Morgan and suffered a puncture that sent him into the wall and retirement.

With the two Draig contenders out of the way and Consiglio able to sail away in the distance, the main point of contention quickly became who'd claim second place. Loknovski and Jundt gave battle for the position, such an important one in terms of Constructors' Championship glory: the Swiss driver was able to resist all attacks and was only allowed to take a breather with two laps to go as the Nordsjoen driver did a small mistake. Gregg Lawson finished fouth to ensure Red Archer remains in the lead of the standings.

Joe Consiglio rounds La Source.

Adam Rouse salvaged the day for Midnight Motorsport after Carr-Smith's retirement and finished fifth in his first race for the team, while Bart de Vos's sixth position means Triple-Double closes the gap to Woods Racing for P5 in the team's standings. Ben Morgan was an excellent seventh despite his unlucky start, ahead of David Stanton. Computrac's good form was shown also by Gavin Thomas who, despite retiring with little more than a handful of laps left, put in a wonderful, 15-laps battle with the ST Racing driver for 8th. The two drivers traded positions several times, with Thomas having a better car on the high-speed parts of the Belgian track and Stanton able to make the best in the middle sector, until a lapse of concentration sent the Welsh driver in the barriers and promoted Mark Stanton to ninth.

The last point-scoring position seemed to be Chris Williamson's, but a charging Mark Wicks had different ideas. The Cornish driver, several laps down after being involved in the crash at the start, reeled Williamson in and set up a passing move at the final chicane, only for it to allow him to get in the final stretch to the line side-by-side with the Nijo Racing. The two drivers sprinted to the line and it was heartbreak for Williamson as Wicks crossed the line a mere 0.015 in front of him.

The Championships, which only not so long ago seemed Morris's to lose, now looks headed to the grateful hands of Joe Consiglio, who travels to the Netherlands with a healthy 19 points lead. Morris needs to gain at least 4 points on Consiglio to remain in the hunt for the title - any less would mean Joe Consiglio will be crowned Champion in the same place where he clinched his first Championship in 2009.

The situation in the Constructors' Championships remain fluid, with Red Archer's lead shrinking to three points with two races to go. Zandvoort, a notoriously high-attrition track, could get to play a very important part in the fight for the team's crown.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Gap
1	2	Joe Consiglio	Nordsjoen-Mercedes	01:41.835	—
2	0	Pavel Loknovski	Nordsjoen-Mercedes	01:43.151	+1.317s
3	6	David Jundt	Red Archer-Renault	01:43.504	+1.669s
4	24	Dave Carr-Smith	Midnight-Renault	01:43.737	+1.902s
5	14	Lee Morris	Draig-Ferrari	01:43.755	+1.920s
6	25	Adam Rouse	Midnight-Renault	01:44.397	+2.562s
7	10	Sam Millar	Synergetic-Ferrari	01:44.618	+2.784s
8	5	Gregg Lawson	Red Archer-Renault	01:44.707	+2.873s
9	23	Bart De Vos	TDR-Toyota	01:45.069	+3.234s
10	22	Phil Perkins	Draig-Ferrari	01:46.068	+4.234s
11	3	Mark Wicks	Woods-Mercedes	01:46.151	+4.317s
12	7	Mark Stanton	Constant-Renault	01:46.167	+4.332s
13	15	Ryan Walker	TDR-Toyota	01:46.489	+4.654s
14	12	Ben Morgan	Computrac-BMW	01:46.541	+4.706s
15	11	Gavin Thomas	Computrac-BMW	01:46.838	+5.003s
16	4	Kieran Ryan	Woods-Mercedes	01:46.852	+5.017s
17	17	David Stanton	ST-BMW	01:46.889	+5.055s
18	9	Christoph Lichtenstein	Synergetic-Ferrari	01:47.054	+5.219s
19	16	Mark Fuller	ST-BMW	01:47.751	+5.916s
20	21	Abdel Damghi	Nijo-Toyota	01:48.457	+6.622s
21	8	William Ponissi	Constant-Renault	01:49.021	+7.187s
22	21	Chris Williamson	Nijo-Toyota	01:49.238	+7.403s

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pitstops	Fastlap	Points
1	2	Joe Consiglio	Nordsjoen-Mercedes	44	1:16:26.566	1	2	01:42.490	15
2	6	David Jundt	Red Archer-Renault	44	+59.560s	3	2	01:43.696	12
3	0	Pavel Loknovski	Nordsjoen-Mercedes	44	+1:02.628	2	2	01:43.419	10
4	5	Gregg Lawson	Red Archer-Renault	44	+1:37.398	8	2	01:44.183	8
5	25	Adam Rouse	Midnight-Renault	43	+1 Lap	6	2	01:45.297	6
6	23	Bart De Vos	TDR-Toyota	43	+1 Lap	9	2	01:45.710	5
7	12	Ben Morgan	Computrac-BMW	43	+1 Lap	14	2	01:45.942	4
8	17	David Stanton	ST-BMW	42	+2 Laps	17	2	01:46.490	3
9	7	Mark Stanton	Constant-Renault	42	+2 Laps	12	2	01:46.717	2
10	3	Mark Wicks	Woods-Mercedes	41	+3 Laps	11	2	01:46.899	1
11	21	Chris Williamson	Nijo-Toyota	41	+3 Laps	22	2	01:48.633	0
12	21	Abdel Damghi	Nijo-Toyota	41	+3 Laps	20	2	01:48.164	0
13	4	Kieran Ryan	Woods-Mercedes	40	+4 Laps	16	3	01:46.179	0
Ret	11	Gavin Thomas	Computrac-BMW	37	DNF	15	2	01:45.978	0
Ret	16	Mark Fuller	ST-BMW	25	DNF	19	4	01:47.843	0
Ret	8	William Ponissi	Constant-Renault	23	DNF	21	3	01:48.643	0
Ret	24	Dave Carr-Smith	Midnight-Renault	19	DNF	4	1	01:44.481	0
Ret	10	Sam Millar	Synergetic-Ferrari	14	DNF	7	1	01:45.347	0
Ret	14	Lee Morris	Draig-Ferrari	1	DNF	5	1	02:47.658	0
Ret	15	Ryan Walker	TDR-Toyota	1	DNF	13	1	02:33.910	0
Ret	9	Christoph Lichtenstein	Synergetic-Ferrari	0	DNF	18	2	-	0
Ret	22	Phil Perkins	Draig-Ferrari	0	DNF	10	1	-	0

Standings after the Race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Joe Consiglio	200
2	Lee Morris	181
3	David Jundt	147
4	Jason Muscat	100
5	Dave Carr-Smith	90
6	Pavel Loknovski	56
7	Ojay Clark	52
=	Mark Wicks	52
9	Nick Rowland	40
10	Bart De Vos	39
11	Sam Millar	33
12	Kieran Ryan	28
=	Mark Stanton	28
=	Adam Rouse	28
15	Christoph Lichtenstein	23
16	Ryan Walker	22
17	Gregg Lawson	18
18	Phil Perkins	12
=	David Stanton	12
20	Ben Morgan	8
21	Jyri Lylykorpi	6
22	Tommi Koivunen	4
23	Petter Kaasa	3
24	Mark Fuller	2
25	Abdel Damghi	1
=	Gavin Thomas	1
=	William Ponissi	1
=	Matt Clipp	1

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Red Archer-Renault	265
2	Nordsjoen-Mercedes	262
3	Draig-Ferrari	205
4	Midnight-Renault	139
5	Woods-Mercedes	80
6	TDR-Toyota	72
7	Synergetic-Ferrari	56
8	Williamson-Mercedes	52
9	Constant-Renault	29
10	ST-BMW	14
11	Computrac-BMW	9
12	Nijo-Toyota	5