Formula V8 3.5

Binder doubles up at Monza to take Championship Lead

2 Mins read
Rene Binder took the championship leader after winning both races at Monza - Credit: Diederik van der Laan / Dutch Photo Agency

Rene Binder took his second victory of the World Series Formula V8 3.5 weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza after gaining a huge advantage thanks to the timing of a safety car on Sunday.

After inheriting race one victory on Saturday thanks to a penalty for Roy Nissany, the Lotus driver pitted at a perfect time, with Damiano Fioravanti’s retirement in the gravel trap on the exit of the second Lesmo bend causing the safety car to be deployed.

Fioravanti’s incident ended a miserable weekend for the RP Motorsport driver at his home event, retiring from both races and ending without troubling the points.

The Italian found himself passed by a recovering Matevos Isaakyan into the first chicane only for the Russian’s SMP Racing by AVF team-mate Egor Orudzhev to run into the back of the RP Motorsport driver, and later in the lap Fioravanti found himself in the barriers, with Orudzhev also retiring in the pits.

When it all played out, Binder had a seventeen-second advantage over Nissany at the front of the field, and although the Israeli continually closed down the gap, the Austrian still had an advantage of more than seven seconds when the chequered flag fell.

Yu Kanamaru also had a strong race to take the final spot on the podium, with the Japanese racer holding off Pietro Fittipaldi, who again endured a slow getaway from pole position.

Fittipaldi had fallen behind Nissany and Binder into turn one, before falling to fourth behind Konstantin Tereschenko into the Roggia chicane, but the Brazilian soon made amends to move back passed the Teo Martin Motorsport driver for third, before closing down and passing Binder into Parabolica.

Isaakyan claimed fifth despite starting the race from the pit lane after stalling on the grid along with team-mate Orudzhev, necessitating a further formation lap, with Nelson Mason claiming sixth for Teo Martin Motorsport, the Canadian taking his second Rookie victory of the weekend as a result.

Tereschenko would have taken fifth but for a five-second time penalty for gaining an advantage by cutting a corner, losing him two places, while Giuseppe Cipriani was the final finisher for Il Barone Rampante despite a penalty for a pit stop offence.

Pre-race championship leader Alfonso Celis Jr spun out of the race at the Ascari chicane after attempting to pass around the outside of Mason, while his Fortec Motorsports team-mate Diego Menchaca didn’t even make the start thanks to a mechanical issue.

Autodromo Nazionale Monza Race 2 Result

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