EU V6: Spa Grand Race summary

Sharp winner and leader !

In FR V6, they know how to keep us on the edge of out seats! After the two races of round 7 at Spa, Sharp and Mondini are neck and neck on equal points at the top of the standings. And just one point behind them is Belicchi. Sharp took the chequered flag in Saturday's Grand Race, in front of Jani and Shimoda. Belicchi's terrifying high-speed crash luckily left him without injury, the driver being taken to hospital for observation.

One thing's for certain: the championship is far from certain! And on Saturday the drivers showed that they don't give an inch. At the green light, Jani knew he would have a hard task holding back Sharp and Mondini, both starting with fresh rubber. As they came through the Raidillon for the first time, Mondini was leading Sharp, but the order was switched a short time later, as the Scotsman went all guns blazing to move into the lead on lap three.

This heralded a three-man battle for victory, while Montanari and Barth pushed hard further back. Meanwhile, Belicchi's terrible start put him right at the back of the pack.

In third, Jani was fighting tooth and nail to hold back Montanari, whose flying form more than made up for his lack of V6 experience. Meneghello was forced to retire on lap five, leaving Jani and Montanari to fight it out between them in an amazing duel. Meanwhile, Maldonado staged an incredible come-back.

As the race was approaching the pitstop section, Sharp was leading Mondini with Jani in third. But right then Belicchi suffered a terrible spin at over 200 kph, smashing into the tyre wall before the bus stop. It took the medical staff a long time to remove the driver from his safety shell, during which the others followed the Safety Car, taking advantage of the break in proceedings to come into the pits. This shuffled the pack, with Sharp maintaining his lead and Jani moving back up to second. Less fortunate were Mondini and Montanari, who lost a lot of time. Shimoda, however, moved up to third.

And this is how things stood until the chequered flag, Sharp winning the race win ahead of Jani and Shimoda, the Japanese driver taking his first podium finish of his career. In the overall standings, Sharp and Mondini both have 185 points, with Belicchi just one point back and Jani now on 175.

With the championship heading for an incredible crescendo, the next round at Imola.

<pre> Grand Race classification

1)  Sharp               Jenzer Motorsport       45'21''051
2)  Jani                Dams                    01''092
3)  Shimoda             David Price Racing      07''312
4)  Mondini             EuroInternational       08''060
5)  Maldonado           Cram Competition        08''663
6)  Rojas               Telmex Dams             14''132
7)  Montanari           Victory Eng SpA         14''509
8)  Lorgere Roux        Dams                    15''284
9)  Bell                David Price Racing      15''630
10) Feichtner           Jenzer Motorsport       16''425

General Classification after 7 rounds

1)    Sharp             Jenzer Motorsport       185 points
2)    Mondini           EuroInternational       185 points
3)    Belicchi          AFC Motorsport          184 points
4)    Jani              Dams                    175 points
5)    Bell              David Price Racing      126 points
6)    Campaniço         Cram Compétition        84 points
7)    Barth             Interwetten.com         82 points
8)    Pasini            Victory Eng. SpA        74 points
9)    Proetto           EuroInternational       74 points
10)   Lorgere Roux      Dams                    72 points

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