Hillspeed's Kanato Le fought back from a slow start to claim his first GB3 Championship race win in race two at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday afternoon.
Le pulled off a series of overtaking moves on the Kemmel Straight to reclaim the lead, finishing ahead of a charging Nikita Johnson who claimed second from sixth on the grid ahead of Rodin's Alex Ninovic, who crossed the line in third.
Time constraints imposed by the circuit towards the end of the race meant the contest ended two laps early, and the results remain provisional until further notice.
From pole position, Le dropped a couple of positions at the start as Rodin duo Ninovic and Gianmarco Pradel blasted through on the run to La Source, with Ninovic taking the lead from third on the grid and Pradel holding second from the front row.
Such was the tardiness of Le's start, that the poleman initially dropped behind Hitech's Kanato Le and Hillspeed teammate Hiyu Yamakoshi into fifth at turn one.
Le fought back into fourth exiting La Source, but the front-runners were four wide down the Kemmel Straight to Les Combes, with Yamakoshi going second and Le third.
By the end of the first lap, race one winner Ninovic was beginning to break free at the front and held a lead of almost a second early on, but it soon became clear that Le was going to be a big threat as he dispatched teammate Yamakoshi up the Kemmel Straight on lap two.
Only 0.7 seconds covered the top two starting the third lap as Le continued his charge, but he wasn't quite close enough to make a move approaching Les Combes on lap three.
Entering the slipstream through Eau Rouge, Le made the move for the lead up the Kemmel Straight on lap four and was able to establish an immediate gap of over a second. That margin remained static for the next few laps as the Hillspeed driver kept his position at the head of the field, but behind it was changing regularly.
Hitech's Keanu Al Azhari held third spot for the early stages but was soon demoted by a charging Nikita Johnson, who had started sixth after a grid penalty, but sliced his way up the order in the early stages. Johnson was into third by lap seven, and then dispatched Ninovic on the Kemmel Straight on on lap eight to grab second. But with his charge ongoing, the early finish halted his changes of further progress.
Le was ultimately victorious by 1.2 seconds from Johnson, while Ninovic wrapped up a successful Saturday in third.
Al Azhari claimed fourth ahead of Yamakoshi, with Elite's Will Macintyre sixth. Having run second at turn one, Pradel fell to seventh, ahead of Hillspeed's Freddie Slater, who again surged through the field to take eighth from 23rd.
Xcel Motorsport's Dion Gowda and JHR Developments' Kai Daryanani completed the top-10, ahead of Hitech's Deagen Fairclough, who was another driver to blast up the order, climbing from 22nd on the grid to 11th.
Due to the circumstances at the end of the race, results remain provisional.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Spa-Francorchamps race two provisional result:
1. Kanato Le, Hillspeed, 9 laps
2. Nikita Johnson, Hitech TGR, +1.222s
3. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, +2.286s
4. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, +4.220s
5. Hiyu Yamakoshi, Hillspeed, +4.964s
6. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, +6.002s
7. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +6.693s
8. Freddie Slater, Hillspeed, +8.157s
9. Dion Gowda, Xcel Motorsport, +8.664s
10. Kai Daryanani, JHR Developments, +13.446s
11. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +13.514s
12. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +15.775s
13. Hugo Schwarze, Elite Motorsport, +18.332s
14. Noah Lisle, JHR Developments, +19.239s
15. Yuanpu Cui, Argenti with Prema, +21.256s
16. Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema, +22.385s
17. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +22.725s
18. Lucas Fluxa, Argenti with Prema, +23.466s
19. Jack Sherwood, Xcel Motorsport, +30.900s
20. Bianca Bustamante, Elite Motorsport, +32.247s
21. Divy Nandan, JHR Developments, +34.337s
22. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +34.886s
23. Stefan Bostandjiev, Fortec Motorsports, +38.769s