FV8 3.5: Isaakyan takes Race 2 pole

Russian rookie Matevos Isaakyan claimed a surprise first Formula V8 3.5 pole position in qualifying for race two at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday.

Also racing in GP3 with Koiranen, Isaakyan qualified 10th on Saturday and his best qualifying result had been fourth at Paul Ricard in June. The 18-year-old attributed his upturn in form to SMP Racing's summer-break test at Vallelunga to address handling issues.

Isaakyan's team-mate Matthieu Vaxiviere had already demonstrated the fruits of that work by winning the opening race on Saturday. "The setup on my car was exactly the same as yesterday," said Isaakyan. "So we had potential, but there were a couple of corners that I was doing quite wrong, just because I haven't been in this car in ages. We checked and analysed everything and this is the result."

Race one runner-up Louis Deletraz will join Isaakyan on the front row. The Fortec racer moved into provisional pole with 15 seconds of the half-hour session remaining, but his time of 1m15.764s fell 0.090s shy of Isaakyan's final effort.

Vaxiviere qualified third, initially ahead of countryman Tom Dillmann. However championship leader Dillmann was stripped of his fastest lap for a track limits violation at Turn 9 and fell to seventh.

Silverstone double winner Roy Nissany was promoted to fourth for the Charouz-run Lotus team, while Aurelien Panis moved up to the third row ahead of Dillmann's teammate Alfonso Celis Jr.

Panis was fastest at the completion of drivers' runs on their first set of tires, but was unable to maintain that form on his second set. His Arden team-mate Egor Orudzhev endured a tough session, ending the morning in eighth after encountering DRS problems. The Russian also had a lap time deleted for breaching track limits.

Originally on Autosport.com