Australian Joey Mawson added to his Championship tally during Round Six of the 2018 GP3 Series in Belgium on the weekend.

After qualifying tenth on Friday afternoon, the PODIUM-backed driver lined up on the fifth row of the grid for the opening race of the weekend on Saturday at the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Making a strong start, Mawson made his way up a couple of spots in the early running to hold down eighth position for the majority of the race in challenging conditions.

On the final lap, Mawson made an attempt at a pass for seventh place but the wet surface off-line forced him to slide wide and unable to make the move. He held on for eighth place and in the process earnt the right to start on pole position for Sunday’s race.

While he had his sights set on his second podium finish of the year, it wasn’t to be for Mawson in race two. After leading the field for the first couple of laps, Mawson’s Arden Motorsport Dallara began to suffer from severe rear tyre degradation and as a result, he slipped down the order and eventually out of the race.

“It was a tough end to the weekend,” said Mawson.

“The first race was positive, collecting some points and getting the reverse grid pole. I felt as though my pace was strong – especially in sectors one and three – and I was going to be able to challenge for the podium in race two.

“Race two started off well but unfortunately we didn’t end up with a result after suffering from horrific tyre degradation from lap two onwards and I was just a passenger from there.”

The weekend’s two races were won by David Beckman and Nikita Mazepin.  Anthoine Hubert leads the standings on 158 points, Mawson is 13th on 22.

After regrouping during the week, Mawson and the Arden Motorsport outfit will be back in action this weekend at the Monza circuit in Italy.