Nurburgring F3.5: Isaakyan wins as Fittipaldi and Palou collide

Isaakyan told Motorsport.com that the engine he used for qualifying on Friday was so down on power that he was losing half a second per lap on the straights, prompting an overnight engine change.

The AVF driver made a lightning start from third on the grid to go through between pole-sitter Palou and Lotus driver Fittipaldi.

Having taken the lead at the first corner, he avoided the contact that took place behind as Fittipaldi was rear-ended by Teo Martin Motorsport driver Palou who outbraked himself at Turn 3.

Palou had to pit for a new front wing and Fittipaldi fell to seventh, just behind the fast-starting Rene Binder, who had picked up four places from 10th.

Also making a positive charge up the field was Alfonso Celis. The Fortec Motorsports driver, who was also suffering from engine problems in the second qualifying session on Saturday morning, avoided the collisions and finished the first lap in second place, but more than two seconds behind Isaakyan.

For the majority of the 40-minute race, positions remained static as significant gaps started forming between the drivers.

In the closing minutes though, Roy Nissany looked like he was in a good position to take the last spot on the podium away from Egor Orudzhev but on the last lap he went too deep at the first turn. That allowed Orudzhev to pull away and take a double podium for AVF.

Celis finished second, unable to eat into the six-second advantage Isaakyan had built up.

Fifth place went to RP Motorsport’s Yu Kanamaru, defending strongly from Binder who had seemingly overcome the "unexplainable" lack of pace he had in qualifying two.

Fittipaldi saw his lead cut in the points standings as he had to settle for seventh.

Joe Hudson

Race 1 results

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time/Gap
1	Matevos Isaakyan	SMP Racing by AVF	43'26.086
2	Alfonso Celis	Fortec Motorsports	6.357
3	Egor Orudzhev	SMP Racing by AVF	19.145
4	Roy Nissany	Rp Motorsport	19.792
5	Yu Kanamaru	Rp Motorsport	35.361
6	Rene Binder	Lotus	35.828
7	Pietro Fittipaldi	Lotus	36.134
8	Diego Menchaca	Fortec Motorsports	42.254
9	Konstantin Tereschenko	Teo Martin Motorsport	43.421
10	Damiano Fioravanti	Rp Motorsport	55.198
11	Alex Palou	Teo Martin Motorsport	1'08.021
12	Giuseppe Cipriani	Il Barone Rampante	1'21.699