Pizzonia takes championship at Spa

The Portuguese was gifted the chance to get an early break when pole-position man Takum Sato was unable to take the start because he was stuck in third gear.

Sato toured into the pits at the end of the green flag lap. And the Carlin Motorsports mechanics finally got him back out almost two laps into the race.

Monteiro made the most of the opportunity, scarcely putting a wheel wrong to win his third race in a row for the ASM team and take Renault's first British Formula 3 success as an engine supplier since Jenson Button triumphed at Silverstone last year.

A fabulous early battle for second place between Pizzonia and Narain Karthikeyan was resolved in the Brazilian's favour. And with title rival Tomas Schekter only able to climb to fifth from ninth on the grid, Pizzonia wrapped up the championship - the second for Manor Motorsports in two attempts since entering F3 last season.

Ben Collins was involved in the Pizzonia vs Karthikeyan scrap, but he gradually fell down the order with a differential problem and finally retired. That promoted Gianmaria Bruni to fourth and Scheckter to fifth.

Nicolas Kiesa was another who might have got involved at the front, but he lost places in a first-lap rush with Collins and could recover only to sixth. Sato set the fastest lap by 0.4s on his way to 21st.

Pizzonia talks about taking the title and his options for next year, click here.



Tiago Monteiro
Antonio Pizzonia
Narain Kartikeyan
Gianmaria Bruni
Tomas Scheckter
Micolas Kiesa
Matt Davies
Andy Priaulx
Andrew Kirkaldy
Martin O'Connell