After Assen, where Mp Motorsport dominated its home round with victories for Valerio Rinicella and Mattia Colnaghi, the Eurocup-3 championship moved to the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit for the penultimate stretch of the season. The Ardennes once again delivered drama, changing weather and a further shake-up in the title fight.
The first race in Spa saw Jesse Carrasquedo claim his second win of the season for Campos Racing. Starting from pole, the Mexican driver held his nerve in treacherous conditions, leading away at La Source before the weather turned the race upside down. Rain began to fall heavily between the final sector and the opening corners, prompting some drivers, including title contender Valerio Rinicella, to gamble on wet tyres. The move did not pay off, as the safety car was deployed immediately after, neutralising the field.
When racing resumed with only a handful of minutes remaining, the rain intensified again, and the red flag was shown after just one more lap of green-flag running. Carrasquedo was declared the winner, ahead of Mattia Colnaghi, who had surged to second place at the start. Rinicella’s tyre strategy left him outside the top ten for the first time this season, a costly blow to his championship hopes. With this result, Colnaghi extended his lead at the top of the standings to 30 points over Rinicella.
On Sunday, the sun returned to Spa and so did Ernesto Rivera. After a difficult run of results, the Mexican delivered a superb drive to claim his third win of the season, ensuring Campos Racing completed a double victory at the Belgian round. Rivera benefited early on when polesitter Emerson Fittipaldi stalled, but the decisive moment came at La Source on lap one, when slight contact with Colnaghi unsettled the Italian and left him vulnerable. Colnaghi dropped back to third, while Rivera seized the lead.
From there, a thrilling duel developed between Rivera and Race 1 winner Carrasquedo. The pair exchanged positions multiple times at Les Combes and along the Kemmel straight, before Rivera made the decisive move stick on lap eight. A late safety car, triggered by an incident involving Maciej Gładysz, Alexander Abkhazava and Kacper Sztuka, neutralised the closing laps, leaving Rivera to take the flag ahead of Colnaghi, who snatched second from Carrasquedo in the final exchanges.
Campos could celebrate a memorable double win, while Mp Motorsport salvaged valuable points with Colnaghi’s runner-up finish. Enzo Tarnvanichkul impressed with a storming drive through the field, climbing from the back to challenge for fourth with a bold move on James Egozi at Blanchimont. However, the Thai driver was later demoted by the stewards for exceeding track limits during that pass, handing fourth place back to Egozi in the final classification.
With his consistent scoring, Mattia Colnaghi now sits on 213 points and has one hand on the title, holding a 48-point margin over Rinicella with just two rounds to go. Rinicella remains second on 165 points, narrowly ahead of Rivera on 161, while Kacper Sztuka is on 141 and Carrasquedo on 129 after his Spa victory.
In the teams’ standings, Mp Motorsport takes a major step towards the crown with 413 points, well clear of Campos Racing on 284 and Griffin Core by Campos on 280.
The Eurocup-3 championship will now head to its penultimate round at Jerez from 19–21 September, where Colnaghi will have his first chance to seal the 2025 title.
