Israeli racer Roy Nissany secured his third Formula V8 3.5 victory of the season as he dominated the opening race at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
The Lotus driver led every lap but almost fell behind fellow front row starter Pietro Fittipaldi into the first turn, only for the Brazilian to outbrake himself into turn one that meant he took to the escape road and acquired a traffic cone that did not detach itself from his Fortec Motorsports for the remainder of the race.
Nissany assumed the lead at the exit of the first turn as Fittipaldi dropped back, and the Israeli driver was able to pull away, and eventually clinched victory by 12.422 seconds from Louis Deletraz.
Deletraz was able to make an early pass on Matthieu Vaxiviere to take that second spot but was never able to match the pace of Nissany, meaning that the second Fortec Motorsports driver drove a lonely race.
Vaxiviere was able to withstand the early pressure of Aurélien Panis to take the final spot on the podium for SMP Racing, with Panis’ challenge to his fellow Frenchman fading as he was forced to go on the defensive as Rene Binder attacked in the second Lotus. Panis and Binder switched places twice on one lap but ultimately the Arden Motorsport driver was able to finish ahead.
Fittipaldi had run fifth early on but with the addition of the rogue traffic cone, he was always on the defensive, with Binder the first of those to pass before he lost out to many others as well, finishing outside the points in eleventh.
Yu Kanamaru finished sixth for Teo Martin Motorsport and looked set to be followed home by team-mate Beitske Visser, only for the Dutch female racer to spin out of the race on the penultimate lap on the exit of the Ascari Chicane, hitting the wall.
Visser’s misfortune gave Egor Orudzhev seventh for Arden Motorsport despite the Russian having a less than straightforward race, which involved two trips across the gravel trap.
Vitor Baptista took eighth for RP Motorsport ahead of AVF by Adrian Vallés’ Alfonso Celis Jr, while William Buller claimed the final point on his return to the championship.
Championship leader Tom Dillmann endured a nightmare race, making a bad start to run at the back of the field, and having made it back into the points into ninth, was forced to pit that him well out of contention for points, ultimately finishing twelfth.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza Race 1 Result
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