In race 1 of the World Series Formula V8 3.5 weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, SMP by AVF celebrated another podium finish at the famous venue with Egor Orudzhev. The young Russian was confident in his potential after a complicated qualifying session yesterday, and rallied from the back of the grid to finish third. With today’s result, Egor is second in the driver standings with 51 points, within striking distance of the series leader.
On the other hand, team-mate Matevos Isaakyan was hit by bad luck, concluding his race after just one lap. In fact, he was dangerously pushed on the grass along the Kemmel straight and he had to stop for good due to the debris obstructing his radiator intakes.
Isaakyan will have the chance to overturn his fortunes in tomorrow’s race 2, starting from P4. In the second qualifying session ran this morning, Orudzhev scored the seventh fastest time.
Egor Orudzhev
"I got a good start and after first corner I was already up from 10th to 5th. I think I managed the battles pretty well and I gained positions, but after that it was difficult with René as I couldn’t be faster than him on the straight due his low downforce configuration. When I saw the opportunity to pass him I took it, so here we are, thanks SMP Racing and AVF for the great effort".
Matevos Isaakyan
“Qualifying this morning has been good with P4, I even had some problems with the brake pedal which was going down. At the start of race 1 the clutch didn't work well, then on the Kemmel straight I was pushed out on the grass. The grass went into the radiator intakes and I had to switch off the engine”.