Edward Pearson enjoyed a return to form in the GB3 Championship partnered by the BRDC as the series headed to mainland Europe for the third round of the season at the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
Edward arrived at the iconic Belgian venue bidding to bounce back from a tricky weekend at Silverstone in the previous meeting, where he was unable to break into the top ten in challenging wet conditions.
Despite it being his first race weekend at the circuit, Edward was on the pace from the start of first practice as he put his Fortec Motorsport-run car inside the top ten on the timesheets and carried his solid form into qualifying to set the 13th quickest time - less than a second away from pole on the longest circuit on the calendar.
Avoiding an incident on the opening lap, Edward would find himself running in 15th place after an early safety car period and battled hard for position with the car of Costa Toparis; the pair swapping places as the laps counted down before Edward chased his rival home to take the flag in fifteenth.
Multiple post-race penalties however would then see Edward promoted up to 11th spot; earning the youngster ten championship points.
With the second quickest time from qualifying setting the grid for race two, Edward lined up in tenth spot for the start but found himself shuffled back to thirteenth as the field diced for position through the opening lap.
However, having elected to use his best tyres during the opening two races, Edward was soon on the move and by the end of lap five had climbed his way back up to the fringes of the top ten.
A move on team-mate Jarrod Waberski heading up the Kemmel Straight allowed Edward to move into the top ten and a lap later, he overhauled championship leader Joseph Loake to move into ninth.
Setting his sights on Nico Christodoulou ahead, Edward swept ahead to take 8th place and then picked up a further position after the chequered flag when Matthew Rees was handed a penalty.
Running on older tyres for the reverse grid encounter, Edward was prepared for a more challenging race from 13th on the grid and so it proved as he was shuffled back down the order to finish in 18th, not helped by getting caught in the middle of a gaggle of cars going round a car with a damaged front wing shortly after a mid-race safety car.
The double points score from the weekend means Edward now sits 18th in the points ahead of the next round of the campaign at Snetterton on the weekend of 17/18 June.
"It’s been a really positive weekend at an amazing circuit," he said. "We had really good pace all weekend, and Saturday was fantastic as we elected to save our tyres to maximise the potential for points in the two main races and that’s exactly what we were able to do.
"Race three was always going to be tough because of the fact that the tyres weren’t in the best shape, so it was a case of staying out of trouble and just doing the best that we could.
"I’d like to thank everyone at Fortec for giving me a great car all weekend, and now we can look forwards to hopefully having another strong showing at Snetterton next time out."
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