AVF, Dillmann shine in Jerez
The final stint of the Formula V8 3.5 championship kicked-off today at Jerez de la Frontera, in a rush that will see the 2016 champion crowned on the next 6th of November. After this weekend’s round in Andalusia, teams and drivers will move to Catalunya for the last two races of the year at Montmelò, close to Barcelona. AVF by Adrián Vallés is fully in the hunt for the title with Tom Dillmann at the front end of the charts. The Frenchman has 193 points versus the 182 of Deletraz and the 165 of Nissany.
In the two sessions of free practice scheduled at Jerez, Dillmann scored the third fastest laptime of the day overall on a cooler track this morning. The heat then increased considerably in the afternoon with a maximum of 30°C recorded. In the second session, Dillmann didn’t go for quick laptimes and focused on set-up work so he placed 13th. His team-mate Alfonso Celis ended the two sessions in 14th and 9th place respectively, running flawlessly and focusing on set-ups for qualifying and the races.
The Mexican also had the chance to drive his AVF car in a road show in the nearby city of Seville last Wednesday, a spectacular event aimed at promoting the Jerez round.
Tom Dillmann: FP1 P3 1’28”736 – FP2 P13 1’31”967
“We worked on qualifying in the morning while in the afternoon focused on the race. It is a bit difficult to know where we are, we are bit behind but we have to wait and see tomorrow. We weren’t surprised by the hot temperature, but at least qualy in the morning should be cooler”.
Alfonso Celis Jr: FP1 P14 1’30”228 – FP2 P9 1’30”849
“It was a good Friday. We decided to leave the tires for the afternoon session and almost half of the grid did the same but unfortunately we got the red flag, so we don’t know where we are right now and we have to wait and see tomorrow”.