Kiwi driver Liam Lawson has won his third race of the 2022 Formula Two season, taking the chequered flag in the sprint race at Belgium's Spa Francorchamps.
Fresh from his first taste of a Formula One practice with Alpha Tauri on Friday, 20-year-old Lawson put in an inspired drive for his third sprint race victory of the year with Carlin.
Lawson's two previous victories came at Saudi Arabia's Jeddah, and France's Le Castellet, while also finishing on the podium in Azerbaijan, England and Bahrain - twice.
Starting fifth on the grid, the Red Bull junior moved into first place on the second lap, and didn't surrender his lead to take the victory.
But as fellow Red Bull junior Jehan Daruvala was forced to withdraw, the Kiwi seized the initiative to advance up the grid as the lights went out at Spa.
And after moving into second place, Lawson overtook leader Ralph Boschung with a move to the outside to take the race lead.
A late safety car bunched the field, and threatened to remove the Kiwi's advantage, but Lawson held his cool on the last lap, and resisted a charge from Jack Doohan to take victory.
Doohan took second, while Boschung completed the podium in third place.
"It was quite an eventful race," Lawson said. "I had a really good launch.
"I was lucky to get a good start, and the car was just rapid, honestly. [That's] obviously positive for tomorrow as well.
"It's nice to make up some points. Obviously the season's not gone exactly how we planned.
"Hopefully we can continue this and finish off strongly."
Victory gives Lawson another 11 points to his season tally, and moves from eighth to fifth in the driver's championship with seven races remaining this season.
Lawson trails championship leader Felipe Drugovich of Brazil by 86 points, but can close the gap with Formula Two's feature race, held on Sunday night (NZ time) before Formula One's Belgium Grand Prix.
