Russian teenager Matevos Isaakyan secured his first World Series Formula V8 3.5 victory at Spa-Francorchamps, and his first since switching to SMP Racing by AVF for 2017.
The nineteen-year-old was running fifth ahead of the pit stop cycle after struggling to get going at the start, but Isaakyan was the last to pit, and the gamble paid off as he emerged from pit lane at the front of the field, taking his second career V8 3.5 victory by 3.009 seconds from Rene Binder.
Isaakyan was thankful to his team for the perfect pit stop that propelled him into the lead, and it was a good way to get back into form after two races without troubling the scorers.
“The race was tough as we struggled a bit with the clutch, and after the start I was fifth,” said Isaakyan. “I knew that the race was going to be long and AVF was great in the pit-stops so we made a good strategy.
“I tried to find a good pace and gain as many places I could before pitting. We were the last to come in and it paid off as we gained the lead and made it to victory. Thank you to all the team and SMP Racing for this result”.
