Alfonso Celis Jr secured his maiden World Series Formula V8 3.5 victory at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend and put himself firmly into the championship battle.
After a podium finish at the season opening round at Silverstone, the Fortec Motorsports driver clinched his first series pole position for the opening round at the Belgian circuit, and turned that into a first victory at a circuit he has traditionally performed well on in recent years.
The Sahara Force India F1 Team test driver managed to edge away from the pack, eventually taking the chequered flag 2.929 seconds clear of RP Motorsport’s Roy Nissany.
“This is my favourite circuit and I’ve managed to do a good job here over the last three years,” said Celis Jr. “It’s absolutely the best place to score pole position and victory.
The race was all about the first lap and then I managed the gap with Roy. I also had a big flatspot, and after that it was difficult to keep the pace, but I’m happy for this great result”.
Celis Jr continued his good form into Saturday’s second race, clinching a third place finish and the final spot on the podium, which also ensured the Mexican left Spa-Francorchamps with a one-point advantage over Pietro Fittipaldi at the top of the championship standings.
“It was a good race, even if we found the track to be more tricky than yesterday,” said Celis Jr. “It was also hard to find clean air and warm up the tyres.
“I struggled a bit, especially in the end for the race. I think we had some issues, I just made a mistake but we still secured valuable points for the championship”.
