A good first run in Spa.


It’s on a chilly Thursday afternoon that the team arrived in Spa-Francorchamps. After having settled down in the box and prepared the car, we got in a good nights rest to prepare for next day’s free practices.

Friday was difficult. It was our first time in Spa as well as Elia’s so we knew we had a lot of learning to do. Whilst Elia got a feel for the track, we collected precious data to better understand this beautiful ribbon of asphalt layered in the forests of the Ardenne region. At first, it was difficult for us to interpret the track and which made us struggle to set-up the car. We were running nearly 3 seconds slower than the championship leading Prema Team. We worked hard into the night Friday to ensure we were going to be able to get the best out of the car for qualifying on Saturday.

Saturday morning, qualifying: We still weren’t happy with the car and neither was Elia with his pace. After qualifying P32 & P33, we were not expecting much from the race one in the afternoon. Amazingly and despite having missed his start, Elia got to grips with the car and with a clean drive managed to gain 7 positions during the race. This gave us all a whiff of hope as everything started to fall in place, spirits were high again for Sunday.

It’s 9:40 on Sunday morning as the lights go out for the second race. It was chaotic, but, a few incidents and a safety car made it the perfect opportunity to try to strategically gain positions. Despite having touched his front wing, Elia managed to cross the line 19th, having gained a spectacular 14 places. Later in the afternoon, and after some light rain, Race 3 also went well and another 6 positions were gained.

It was great to see the team work smartly, efficiently & in good spirit allowing us to adapt and become competitive on this new track. We are always happy to finish with positive results as they encourage us to keep pushing on our way to the top.

The Maffi Racing Team
#drivenbyracing