NISSANY CLAIMS DOUBLE FV8 3.5 WIN

Roy Nissany took his maiden Formula V8 3.5 victory and became the first driver to score a winning double too.

Egor Orudzhev led race one from the opening lap, with Nissany joining him in an early break as poleman Matthieu Vaxiviere fought off championship leader Tom Dillmann for third. Rene Binder began to close too and his successful move on Dillmann on lap six gave Vaxiviere a break in third.

Soon, Nissany closed enough on the leader to begin a series of challenges, but it was another eight laps before the Israeli Lotus driver’s challenge came to a head. “Orudzhev had blocked me fairly on the Wellington Straight but into Stowe I went for a gap, was alongside and he blocked me again before we both spun after contact,” he said.

Orudzhev had a further touch with Dillmann and retired to the pits, leaving Nissany to claim a comfortable win, with Vaxiviere and Binder completing the podium.

Nissany looked a class act from the start of race two and became a dominant winner with Binder and Orudzhev regaining their early second and third places within a lap of their compulsory stops. Nissany was only out of the lead for four laps, while Vitor Baptista and Yu Kanamaru both ran longer before stopping.

Despite having dominated qualifying for both races, Vaxiviere ran wide at Copse, and dropped to fifth early on. He had managed to hold off Louis Deletraz after their stops and was set for sixth or higher, but outbraked himself into Brooklands two laps from home and was left to take seventh.

Craig Dolby and Tomas Enge scored a sensational debut win for Nigel Mustill’s Lamborghini Gallardo in the first International GT Open race. Come Ledogar’s Mclaren 650S led the whole of the first half, with Phil Keen in the Balfe Mclaren taking Gustavo Yacaman’s BMW M6 for second on lap six, before Dolby moved into third at Copse just before the pitstop window opened.

Alexander West took over the lead car and was pressed hard by Balfe. Enge lay in wait but a queue began to form and the Lamborghini took both the lead cars in one lap before West spun and Fabrizio Crestani in the Lamborghini Huracan took second.

Balfe tried to hold on for third but lost out to the BMW of Miguel Ramos and Euan Hankey’s Aston Martin before the flag as Enge/dolby secured victory.

In the second race it was Jamie Stanley’s turn to lead the whole of the first half, debuting Paul Mcneilly’s Ferrari 488 and shadowed throughout by Hankey. Enge sat safely in third and Duncan Tappy’s Mclaren kept Crestani at bay.

After the stops Salih Yoluc took over the Aston Martin and built a decisive lead, but Mcneilly’s stern defence, once broken, crumbled further from second. Michael Benham had taken over from Tappy but couldn’t quite hold on, exiting Luffield for the final time side by side with Yacaman, before losing out by 0.006s in the drag to the line. Crestani/thomas Biagi were fourth, from Keen and Ramos, with Mcneilly dropping to seventh.

Jamie Constable’s Spyder was a last-lap winner in the first Radical European Masters race, after Bradley Smith’s similar car cut out at Copse following a safety car interlude. Manhal Allos/alex Kapadia’s SR8 moved up to second and with the SR8 of Tony Wells selecting a box of neutrals on the last lap, he stopped, only to be hit by Marcelo Marateotto who was chasing second in class in his SR3. Jim Booth’s Spyder therefore completed the podium, from John Corbett/james Winslow (Spyder).

Smith did get his win in a farcical race two where a safety car intervention gave the top four of Johan Scheier, Smith, Darren Burke and James Littlejohn a lap lead, having failed to give the rest of the field a drive by before the green flag.

Scheier then had a stop/go penalty, leaving Smith in the clear with Burke and Littlejohn joining him on the podium.

A furious Kapadia battled into fourth but was still almost a lap down, heading home Corbett and Constable, with Marateotto/marco Cencetti taking a class win.

Allos/kapadia were finally rewarded with the race three win after Smith’s tyres had worn out. He still made the podium however despite losing out to Burke/chris Hyman, but only after Littlejohn received a drivethrough.

Mike Cantillon in his Spyder had led but missed the pitstop window and dropped to fifth, with Andrew Ferguson’s Spyder sixth and Marateotto/cencetti taking another class win.

Leonardo Pulcini headed Colton Herta and Antoni Ptak from the opening lap of the first Euroformula Open race. Ptak then took his maiden win in the second contest despite Ferdinand Habsburg being never more than 0.5s behind throughout. Damiano Fioravanti joined them on the podium after Herta and Pulcini collided at Abbey early on.