Academy Report: Zak's Spa Sprint Race success

Formula 2 and Formula 3 suffered heavy disruption in Belgium, but Zak O'Sullivan kept his concentration amid the chaos for his best weekend of 2024.

His Sprint Race victory was the high point of the Williams Racing Driver Academy's time in Belgium after three days of mixed fortunes.

Meanwhile, Sara Matsui raced in the third round of the Champions of the Future karting series in Franciacorta.

Read on to see how all our young drivers fared.

A much-delayed start to the F2 Sprint Race on Saturday didn't cause any nerves for pole-sitting Zak.

The heavy rain meant the race only began in the evening after F1's Qualifying concluded, and the weather continued affecting proceedings even with the rescheduling.

Zak stayed in P1 through the tight La Source hairpin and never looked back as his competitors battled behind him.

He extended his gap over P2 before a Safety Car deployment, which eventually turned into a red flag, meaning victory was secured - his second of the year.

The Feature Race saw another strong showing, too, with a P4 finish as Zak ran a flawless race from his P10 start, just 1.6s away from a double-podium weekend.

Franco Colapinto had a strong start to his Belgian trip, qualifying in P7, but his weekend fell away over each day in the Ardennes Forest.

Saturday's Sprint Race under the soaking conditions didn't suit Franco's car, and he spent the handful of racing laps trying to fend off those behind.

He eventually finished P8, but with the red flag prematurely ending the race, there were no points awarded for his efforts.

We'll never know how much pace the Argentinian's MP Motorsport car had in dry conditions as a mechanical failure on the opening lap caused a DNF for Franco in Sunday's Feature Race.

There is only one round remaining for Luke Browning in his F3 title fight, and he's in with every chance of becoming champion after more points from Spa.

The slippery circuit on Saturday had his Hitech car use slick tyres to navigate the standing water, keeping clean and emerging P6 after the opening corners.

Top-10 running, including a five-car fight on the final lap, sadly ended in a P12 finish after post-race penalties were applied.

Luke fared better on Sunday, rising through the ranks across three Safety Car periods to net a P6 finish and eight valuable championship points.

Monza's finale in September will see Luke enter with a slender six-point deficit to P1, so taking the title isn't out of the British driver's hands, and he'll use the summer break to prepare for the showdown.

A race of overtaking marked Sara Matsui's return to action in karting's Champions of the Future series.

The third round took Sara back to Italy, this time racing at Franciacorta, and she had to work hard in the Final to recover ground.

Starting from P25 and the 13th row, the Japanese teenager got racey to ascend to a P16 classification by the end of the 17-lap race.

Time gaps between her kart and those around her were always slender, giving Sara plenty of wheel-to-wheel experience from her trip to Lombardy.

F1's summer break also gives the Williams Racing Driver Academy hopefuls some well-earned rest.

F1 Academy will resume in Zandvoort on August 24-25th, while Luke will need to wait one extra week for his Monza finale when F3 joins F2 and F1 for a second 2024 trip to Italy.