Pietro Fittipaldi saw off the challenge of Egor Orudzhev to take his maiden series victory in the opening race of the World Series Formula V8 3.5 championship at Silverstone on Saturday afternoon.
After two qualifying sessions affected by the weather, a dry track greeted the twelve-car field ahead of the opening race of the weekend, and Fittipaldi made a great getaway to lead into turn one, a position he would hold on until the chequered flag.
However, it was not all plain-sailing for the Brazilian, with the Lotus driver seeing his seven second lead reeled in by Orudzhev over the second half of the race, but the Russian could not get close enough to make a challenge, ending 0.749 seconds behind for SMP Racing by AVF.
Alfonso Celis Jr was also in good form, completing the podium for Fortec Motorsports, just 1.584 seconds down on the front two after moves on Rene Binder for fourth and Matevos Isaakyan for third, the latter being edged off track at Maggotts as the two drivers battled for position.
After starting on the front row, Binder could only take fifth in the second Lotus, while the leading rookie was Il Barone Rampante’s Damiano Fioravanti in sixth, just ahead of Nelson Mason, who was allowed to race after overcoming his licence issues that forced him to miss qualifying.
The Teo Martin Motorsport driver managed to make it up to eighth early on before falling behind Yu Kanamaru as he locked up his brakes, but he recovered to re-pass the Japanese driver and his team-mate Konstantin Tereschenko to take seventh.
Tereschenko finished eighth, surviving a first lap tussle with Roy Nissany that saw the Israeli driver retire from the race, with Diego Menchaca taking ninth despite a first lap pit stop to repair damage on his Fortec Motorsports machine, with the Mexican also passing Kanamaru before the end.
Giuseppe Cipriani was the final finisher in eleventh for Il Barone Rampante, but the Italian Gentleman driver ended 1 minute 17.850 seconds off race winner Fittipaldi despite it only being a 24-lap race.
Pietro Fittipaldi celebrates victory at Silverstone – Credit: Paul Davies Photography
Silverstone Race 1 Result
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