2017 Spa Sprint Race

The 2017 Spa Sprint Race, otherwise known as the 2017 Spa Race 2, was the sixteenth race of the 2017 FIA Formula Two Championship, held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on the 27 August 2017. The race, staged in support of the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix, would see Sérgio Sette Câmara claim a maiden victory after making a stunning start.

The Brazilian would indeed, blitz his getaway from the grid, leaping past pole sitter Norman Nato and front row starter Roberto Merhi to claim the lead into La Source. Indeed, the only man to match his efforts would be Nyck de Vries, although the Dtuchman's charge was briefly blocked by an ultra-defensive Nato into the first corner.

That allowed Câmara to blast away from the pack without any issue for the rest of the opening lap, with de Vries having to wait until the end of the Kemmel Straight to dive into second. Behind, Championship leader Charles Leclerc and main challenger Oliver Rowland were making good ground, the pair ending the opening tour with the Brit in twelfth, and the Monegasque thirteenth.

Those two would swap positions on the following tour, before Leclerc got stuck in a three way fight for sixth mid-race, fighting teammate Antonio Fuoco and Artem Markelov. That charge also motivated Luca Ghiotto to push on, with the Italian elbowing his way past Merhi in pursuit of a podium.

Into the closing stages and Ghiotto had moved into a podium paying position, sweeping past Nato with ease before latching onto the back of de Vries. The Dutchman himself was, however, closing the gap to Câmara out front, setting up a thrilling final lap only for a heavy crash to settle the issue.

The unfortunate victim would be Nobuharu Matsushita, who escape uninjured from a spectacular accident at Eau Rouge, bringing out a race ending safety car. Câmara was duly declared the winner ahead of de Vries and Ghiotto when the final lap was ticked off, with Nato, Leclerc, Merhi, Fuoco and Rowland completing the points.

Background
As ever the Sprint Race for the Formula Two race was scheduled just before the Formula One race on Sunday, with no major revisions to the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps overnight. Indeed, with no changes made to the DRS zones either it was up to the officials to meddle with the grid order, having disqualified Leclerc and Rowland from the Feature Race. They would subsequently start from the back of the grid, while Norman Nato and Roberto Merhi were promoted to the front row.

Into the Championship and despite failing to score anything bar the points for pole in the Feature, Charles Leclerc continued to have a stranglehold on the Championship, having actually managed to extend his lead. Behind, with Oliver Rowland failing to score, it was Feature winner Artem Markelov whom had gained the most, the Russian racer moving onto 150 points, eight behind the Brit. That jump also created a gap between the top three and fourth place Nicholas Latifi, with Luca Ghiotto moving into striking distance of the Canadian in fifth.

DAMS had, in contrast, seen their lead atop the Teams' Championship reduced after the first race at Spa, their advantage having been cut to ten points. Russian Time were the team on the move, their one-two result carrying them past Prema Racing and into second on Saturday to become the French squad's closest challengers. Those three were still locked into an exclusive Truel for the title, with ART Grand Prix having lost more ground in fourth.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Grid
The grid for the second race of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps was determined from the results of the Feature Race, with the positions of the top eight reversed as per-FIA Formula Two rules:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * King set the fastest lap of the race but was ineligible to claim the points as he failed to finish in the top ten.

Milestones

 * Maiden victory for Sérgio Sette Câmara.
 * MP Motorsport claimed their first victory in Formula Two.
 * Also the Dutch team's second win at GP2/F2 level, and first since the 2014 Sochi Sprint Race.
 * Nyck de Vries recorded his first fastest lap.

Standings
Rather miraculously given his starting position, Charles Leclerc had managed to extend his Championship lead in the Sprint race, moving onto 218 points. Oliver Rowland remained his closest "challenger", but with 59 points between them, and only 144 left to fight for, the Brit realistically in a fight for second. In that fight Rowland had atleast come out on top during the Sprint, moving nine points clear of Artem Markelov in third.

The Teams Championship, in contrast, looked set to go to the final day, with DAMS and Russian Time separated by just a single point at the end of the weekend. Indeed the French squad had just held onto their lead courtesy of Rowland's single point, keeping Russian Time in second, although the Russian squad had made huge gains across the weekend. Prema Racing were also in the fight, despite having lost ground across the two races, with just sixteen points separating them from the leaders.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.