Silverstone Formula V8 3.5: Pietro Fittipaldi hangs on for win

Leading the way off the line, Fittipaldi headed Russian duo Egor Orudzhev and Matevos Isaakyan as the SMP Racing-backed AVF pair overtook Rene Binder at the start.

Fittipaldi proceeded to build a large early break over Orudzhev, going almost seven seconds clear of his rival after just seven laps of racing.

But Orudzhev then hit back, steadily eating into the Lotus driver's lead as an exhaust problem - which the team is still investigating - began to hamper Fittipaldi.

With a third of the race left, Orudzhev had reduced the deficit to less than three seconds and was still catching the Brazilian.

But Fittipaldi held his nerve to beat Orudzhev home by just 0.749s and continue his dominance of a weekend that had already featured a double pole.

The final podium place was claimed by Alfonso Celis Jr, who drove a hard-fought race from fifth on the grid to end up less than a second behind the lead pair by the finish.

Celis cleared Binder early on and proceeded to catch up to Isaakyan, who was unable to resist the Mexican's advances despite some robust defending; Isaakyan was edged off the road into Maggotts to fall behind the Fortec driver.

Rene Binder could not capitalise on his front row start and ended up only fifth after a quiet race, while Il Barone Rampante's Damiano Fioravanti stayed ahead of Nelson Mason to finish sixth as top rookie.

Mason - who missed Friday's qualifying after not getting the correct licence clearance - briefly came unstuck behind Teo Martin team-mate Konstantin Tereshchenko after a good start, locking up and falling behind Yu Kanamaru, but the Canadian recovered to pass both drivers and had caught up to Fioravanti by the end.

Tereshchenko remained behind his team-mate on track and finished eighth, ahead of Diego Menchaca who passed Kanamaru in the latter stages despite an early pitstop for damage.

Giuseppe Cipriani rounded out the finishers in 11th, while Roy Nissany retired early on after a first-lap scuffle with Tereshchenko.

RESULTS - 24 LAPS: