Our race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps
We headed to Spa-Francorchamps, one of the most demanding and legendary circuits on the calendar, for a new round of the Ultimate Cup Series with the Nova NP02. We arrived in Belgium determined to turn the page on a difficult start to the season and to find some positive momentum again. A new engineer worked with us for this round, and their fresh perspective and expertise made a difference very quickly.
From the very first laps, the car felt well balanced and was moving in the right direction. This had a direct effect on our drivers, who could push with more confidence. The practice sessions were very productive. They gave everyone time to adapt to the new setup, get their bearings on this demanding track and give precise feedback to the technical team. Session after session, we kept refining the car to be in the best possible shape for the rest of the weekend.
Qualifying: a session below our potential
Qualifying was a little below what we could have hoped for. We set the 18th fastest time, then a two-place penalty dropped us to 20th on the grid.
The race: strong pace held back by penalties
The race got off to a great start. Gwen made a superb launch and showed straight away that the car could fight in the pack. Alexis then took over and delivered a very strong, consistent stint, confirming the progress we had made all weekend.
Unfortunately, the rest of the race was more complicated. Several Full Course Yellows disrupted our strategy, and a penalty for going one second over the allowed limit cost us valuable time. To make matters worse, a fuel tank issue forced us to come back into the pits to refuel. This unplanned stop had already cost us a lot of time, and it also earned us an additional penalty. In the end, these setbacks undid the hard work of our drivers, who had the pace to fight for a much better result.
Key takeaways
The final result is not the one we were hoping for, and it doesn’t reflect the work the team put in or the level we showed this weekend. Even so, we leave Spa with real reasons to be optimistic. We now have a car that is quick and well balanced, confident drivers and encouraging race pace. It’s a solid foundation to build on.
We would like to thank the whole team for their commitment throughout the weekend, as well as the engineer who worked with us for this round. We head into the rest of the season motivated and determined to go after what we missed at Spa
