Edward Pearson secured his best result of the GB3 Championship powered by the BRDC season with a brace of top twelve finishes at Spa - the first of three overseas races for the series this year.
The opening day of testing ahead of the weekend had seen Edward post the tenth quickest time in tricky wet conditions and would end Friday running in 21st in the only session that provided the drivers with the chance to turn any meaningful laps in the dry.
Come qualifying, Edward would set the 19th best time with a lap just 1.5s away from pole around the iconic Belgian circuit, leaving him to start the opening race of the weekend from the tenth row of the grid.
Although he slipped back a spot on the opening lap in difficult conditions after more rain in the Ardennes, Edward was able to stay out of trouble and worked his way back up into 18th spot by the finish.
Edward lined up in 18th place on the grid for the second race of the weekend thanks to his second fastest time in qualifying and a fine start saw him pocket up four places off the line to sit in 14th by the time the field reached the end of the Kemmel Straight.
Although he then lost a spot at the start of lap two, Edward not only reclaimed the position within a matter of corners but also climbed up into 13th before the safety car was deployed to recover a car that had stopped at the side of the circuit.
A clash ahead on the restart provided Edward with the chance to make up further places as he emerged from La Source in eleventh before passing team-mate Colin Queen for tenth just before the safety car was deployed for a second time.
With time running out to complete the race, the action would end under caution as Edward took tenth place and his best result of the season to date having made up an impressive eight places.
Starting from 19th once again in the final race, Edward held his place when the lights went out and then moved up a position on lap two after an incident ahead that led to the safety car being deployed.
Taking the restart from 17th, Edward avoided another clash at turn one to immediately move up into 15th and had made further progress to sit in 13th before another caution period to recover a car from the side of the circuit.
There would be further chaos after the restart when more incidents on track saw the safety car called out for a third time, with Edward again avoiding the drama to move into eleventh, which is where he would finish after one final racing lap was possible on the time available.
The overseas trip marked Edward’s highest-scoring weekend of the season to date to leave him 14th in the championship standings and within touching distance of the top ten ahead of trip the Hungaroring later this month.
“I love coming to Spa, it’s an incredible circuit to drive” he said.
“Sadly we struggled in qualifying which put us on the backfoot for the races. We made some changes to the car to try and bounce back, which we did! I really enjoyed fighting through the field, particularly in the second race and pleased we could score some solid points for the team. Hopefully now we can continue the momentum into Hungary”.
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