Armstrong, who turned 18 on Sunday, started in sixth but advanced to third to stand on the podium after racing through wet conditions on the demanding 7.004km circuit in the Belgian Ardenne.
Mick Schumacher, the son of legendary Formula One driver Michael, and Armstrong’s team-mate for Prema Theodore Racing, was victorious after the 19-year-old German passed Armstrong and Russian Robert Schvartzman to take first place.
Schumacher’s triumph comes in the junior category on the same circuit loved by his father, who won a record seven F1 titles and made his F1 debut at Spa in 1991 – where won he his first race a year later.
His father suffered a serious brain injury in a skiing accident in 2013and has not been seen in public since.
“Winning at Spa is a great feeling after I unfortunately wasn’t able to convert yesterday’s pole position into a race success,” Schumacher said.
“As it seems, Spa is a good venue for the Schumacher family. When I saw the rain this morning, I was already happy: I very much like rain and mixed conditions.
“In the overtaking manoeuvre against Marcus, I was able to attack him from the slipstream. I already made a similar move in race one and therefore I knew that it would work out.”
Armstrong, who achieved his seventh podium finish of the season, leads the standings – one point ahead of British driver Dan Ticktum – ahead of F3’s next races at Silverstone in the UK in three weeks.
“The battle with Mick and Robert was really intense. Robert had a better exit off the first corner and overtook me,” the Christchurch driver said.
“I then wanted to follow him, but Mick was quite fast and was also able to overtake me. At the beginning of the weekend, I was still having some issues, but now, I came back strongly with third place.”
Source: Stuff NZ