Antonio Pizzonia was all but handed the British Formula Three crown b🐎efore the lights went out at Spa-Francorchamps.

Although not directly involved in the championship battle, pole-sitter Takuma Sato posed enough of a threat to the Brazilian that an engine problem on the warm-up lap was greeted by a sigh of relief in the Manor Motorsport camp. Needing just a top eight finish to clinch the crown, Pizzonia was never likely to be troubled but the exit 𝄹⛄of one his race rivals removed the temptation to get involved in a costly scrap.

Instead of Sato, however, Pizzonia had to watch the tail-pipes of Portuguese interloper Tiago Montei𝓰ro, the French series runner making the most of an open circuit to take an unchallenged victory. As the ASM driver slowly dis💦appeared, Pizzonia found himself locked in a game of cat-and-mouse with the team-mate of his closest title rival, and quickly settled into a defence of second place.

Narain Karthikeyan was never going to resort to dirty tricks in order to help Stewart team-mate Tomas Scheckter extend his chase for the championship, but did enough to keep Pizzonia on his toes throughout. With Scheckter only managing a distant fifth, however, only a retirement would prevent Pizzonia from wrapping up the title at the greatest d🐠river's circuit of all.

Behind Karthikeyan, Italy's Gianmaria Bruni headed home Scheckter - up from eighth and ninth respectively - and RC Benetton's Nic Kiesa, after Carlin suffered a disappointing race. Sato did manage to rejoin the race, albeit two laps down, whileཧ team-mate Ben Collins was unable to sustain his top six qualifying position.

Full results will follow shortly......

Leading finishers - F3 - Spa.

1. Tiago Monteiro ASM Dallara-Renault
2. Antonio Pizzonia Manor Dallara-Mugen
3. Narain Karthikeyan Stewart Dallara-Mugen
4. Gianmaria Bruni Fortec Dallara-Mugen
5. Tomas Scheckter Stewart Dallara-Mugen
6. Nicolas Kiesa RC Benetton Dallara-Opel