Aragon Formula V8 3.5: Pietro Fittipaldi boosts title bid with win
Pietro Fittipaldi put his title aspirations back on track with his fourth Formula V8 3.5 victory of the season at Aragon, as his Lotus team-mate Rene Binder crashed out on lap one
After making a poor start in Saturday's race, the Brazilian - celebrating his 21st birthday - shot off the line from his pole position to lead into Turn 1, as fellow front row starter Binder was swamped by the pack.
Binder had fallen back into a battle for fourth place and the pre-race championship leader then clipped the kerb at Turn 8 while competing with RP Motorsport's Yu Kanamaru and bounced into the Japanese driver's car, forcing the Lotus driver into retirement.
Konstantin Tereschenko took over the lead as Fittipaldi made his mandatory pit stop, but the Russian's car started to smoke and he was shown the black flag for mechanical reasons.
His Teo Martin mechanics had to put out a fire on the right side of his car as he pitted, but he went off into the barriers at Turn 5 on his out-lap as the culmination of nightmare race.
After the pitstops cycled through Fittipaldi regained a lead he would not relinquish, with Fortec's Alfonso Celis Jr three seconds behind and the Force India reserve driver unable to significantly close the gap.
Saturday's winner Egor Orudzhev rounded out the podium for AVF, ahead of Kanamaru, with their respective team-mates Matevos Isaakyan and Roy Nissany in fifth and sixth.
RACE TWO - 24 LAPS:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Lotus | 42m26.477s |
| 2 | Alfonso Celis | Fortec Motorsports | 2.381s |
| 3 | Egor Orudzhev | SMP Racing by AVF | 11.554s |
| 4 | Yu Kanamaru | RP Motorsport | 16.570s |
| 5 | Matevos Isaakyan | SMP Racing by AVF | 20.087s |
| 6 | Roy Nissany | RP Motorsport | 29.252s |
| 7 | Diego Menchaca | Fortec Motorsports | 30.863s |
| 8 | Damiano Fioravanti | RP Motorsport | 35.204s |
| 9 | Nelson Mason | Teo Martin Motorsport | 44.461s |
| 10 | Giuseppe Cipriani | Il Barone Rampante | 1m16.934s |
| - | Konstantin Tereschenko | Teo Martin Motorsport | Retirement |
| - | Rene Binder | Lotus | Retirement |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 144 |
| 2 | Rene Binder | 130 |
| 3 | Alfonso Celis | 128 |
| 4 | Roy Nissany | 126 |
| 5 | Egor Orudzhev | 125 |
| 6 | Matevos Isaakyan | 120 |
| 7 | Yu Kanamaru | 55 |
| 8 | Diego Menchaca | 48 |
| 9 | Konstantin Tereschenko | 43 |
| 10 | Nelson Mason | 42 |
| 11 | Damiano Fioravanti | 35 |
| 12 | Giuseppe Cipriani | 10 |
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