‘One of my best races’ - Minì happy with run to P5 in messy Spa Feature Race

Gabriele Minì recovered from a difficult weekend and an opening lap incident in the Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race to finish fifth – calling the performance one his best.

The MP Motorsport driver started the race in P14 but had a first corner collision with Roman Bilinski which earned him a five-second time penalty.

However, just after the Italian pitted for his Medium tyres, the Red Flags were waved following Laurens van Hoepen’s crash, allowing Minì to gain a few positions on those that had to make their mandatory stops after the stoppage.

This left Minì in a fight with the front runners, and while he crossed the line in sixth, post-race penalties put him up in fifth.

“To be honest, it was the messiest race ever,” he said. “I did a mega start, and then I got pushed on the grass, and I could not stop the car because I was on the grass with one tyre. Once you start locking on cold tyres, it's impossible to stop it.

“I still managed to stop the car quite well but I was way too tight, so the angle was not good. Nobody saw me so I just had contact with Bilinski. I still managed to keep the car on track, but then I stalled. So I just rolled down, and after a switch-off, switch-on, I managed to restart the car.

“I was miles behind, but it was a Safety Car, so I was very lucky. To be honest after that I arrived at the cliff of the tyres, I boxed, and the Red Flag helped us quite a lot. Then after it was one of my best races.

“I then kept on overtaking and overtaking, and the overtakes were clean, very on the edge, I almost went off a few times. But still, a very good one, very happy.

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“It's a shame to have missed P4 by a few tenths, with Dunne having a penalty, but I think this was probably one of my best races in terms of driving and overtakes, so I'm quite happy.”

Going into the race, Minì’s title rivals Nikola Tsolov, Rafael Câmara and Alexander Dunne were all starting at the front, while he was in P14.

The MP driver still finished behind them with Câmara winning the race, Tsolov in third and Dunne in P4, but given how difficult his weekend had been, it’s a result he is happy to take.

“This weekend we were quite struggling a bit,” he continued. “So it is what it is, but we still go home again with ten points.

“Of course, we lost points in terms of championship, but it could have been much worse. I'm very satisfied, I'm leaving this track quite happy. I think it was quite a good race apart from the first corner, and we did the best we could, to be honest.”

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Next up for Minì is Round 9 in Budapest this weekend and he takes the confidence from his Sunday in Belgium to the Hungaroring.

“Expectations are really something you can't have,” he added. “But the only thing you can do is to give your best and work as best as you can, and then you'll see where you are after.

“I did win one race in 2023 and was on for a very quick lap in '24, but then we got a Red Flag. In F2 it was a bit trickier, but still, it's a different team, different here, different there, so I'm ready. Fingers crossed.”