Zak O’Sullivan’s Spa-Francorchamps Weekend in his Words

It was a positive weekend overall for Zak O’Sullivan, who claimed his second race win of the 2024 season in the Spa-Francorchamps Sprint, even if it was a race shortened by rain.

Still, the Briton was very positive in his outlook following the race weekend in Belgium, and he details his though process session by session.

SPRINT RACE: O’Sullivan wins at Spa after Red Flag

PRACTICE – P7

“Practice was OK, I think. Seventh in the end, good to be back at Spa, always a driver’s favourite circuit. Nothing like going up Eau Rouge for the first couple of laps and finding your feet, but I felt good about Practice. We’re getting there and the pace seemed quite strong.

“We were able to get a bit of a feel, in Practice we don’t do many laps, but it depends on how long the tyres last so a couple of push laps and then into Qualifying. But we get a rough feel for it.”

QUALIFYING – P10

“P10 in the end so not a bad result, reverse grid pole. I think there was a bit more potential in there. I didn’t maximise everything with the peak of the tyre and I had to do a lap at the end where the tyre was maybe not at its best.

“Anyway, it wasn’t a bad result to get reverse grid pole and it’s nice to be back inside that top 10. Left it late, would have been nicer to get the lap in a little bit earlier.”

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SPRINT RACE – P1

“Starting from Pole – well, it was a delayed start. The first delay in the afternoon and then finally the race in the evening. Managed to get away off the line which is always tricky in the wet. Held the lead and we seemed really, really quick. I think I pulled a three and a half second lead in the two laps we did.

“Unfortunately, a long Safety Car period and then a Red Flag due to worsening conditions cut the race short. It’s a shame because I think we had the pace to keep pulling away but of course, if the safety and visibility isn’t great, you have to have a Red Flag.”

FEATURE RACE – P4

“Starting from 10th and getting P4 in the end is quite a decent result. I had a good start, we were up to seventh after Lap 1 and at that point, I think I was P5 of the option-prime runners. So we stuck to our strategy and boxed quite early as the Soft tyres degraded and then had to do quite a long stint on the Mediums.

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“But the pace seemed quite strong. I was able to stay with the cars in front and it was fortunate in the end with another driver having a mechanical issue on the last lap which promoted us to P4. Nonetheless, some good points to take away from Spa and happy with the progress that’s been made.”

UP NEXT – SUMMER BREAK & MONZA

“It was good as it’s just in time for the summer break. So, we’ll see at Monza, it’s a very different circuit and I think there’s been some more resurfacing there, but I’m looking forward to it.

“It’s always an entertaining weekend. It's a bit unpredictable, similar to Spa in that sense, actually. There's been some resurfacing here at Spa and it's changed the dynamic of the races a bit, and tyre degradation. So we'll see at Monza that it’s been resurfaced I think, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out.”