Brazilian driver Pietro Fittipaldi put on an impressive display from fourth on the grid to win Race Four of the MRF challenge 2015 at the Dubai Autodrome here on Saturday.
Fittipladi beat Alessio Picariello and Nikita Troitckii to further extend his championship lead to 16 points. Earlier in the day, Picariello won race three after the race was red-flagged on lap seven of 10. Fittipaldi leads the championship with 168 points, with Troitckii in second with 152 points and Calderon following with 147 points. Picariello is a further 13 points away in fourth place.
In morning race, pole sitter Picariello kept his lead into the first corner with Sean Walkinshaw and Max Fewtrell losing positions. Troitckii moved into second position with Fittipaldi and Tatiana Calderon behind him. Dylan Young crashed on lap two which brought out the safety car for two laps.
After the restart Troitckii continued to put pressure on Picariello and finally found a way past on lap six. The lap was red-flagged on the same lap when Arjun Narendran and Mathew Draper collided. The race was drawn to a close after six laps, handing Picariello the win, as he was ahead on the previous lap. Troitckii had to settle for the second with Fittipaldi completing the podium.
Race four started with Newey taking the lead of the race from reverse-grid pole man Walkinshaw, with Fittipaldi slotting in third and Picariello moving up ahead of Troitckii.
Fittipaldi got past Walkinshaw and started piling the pressure on Newey. Race leader Newey was then penalised for a jump start and then soon black flagged to not coming into the pitalane straight away. Fittipaldi took the lead and started to pull away and there was no looking back for him.
Picariello was pleased after taking his fourth win of the season. “The first race of the day was a close battle. I had a good start and managed to pull away but Nikita came on strong after the safety car and I had to hold him off,” he said.
Tarun penalised for Pushing
Indian driver, Tarun Reddy, who had initially been named as the winner of the red-flagged race on aggregate times, despite the fact Calderon finished first on the road after passing Reddy after the restart on Friday lost his win after a complaint was lodged against him by third-place driver Nikita Troitskiy. The Russian lodged an appeal against the result, complaining of being pushed off the road by Tarun in their fight for second.
The Russian’s appeal was successful, resulting in a 20-second time penalty for Reddy, which resulted in pushing him down to 12th place.
