FV8 3.5: Orudzhev wins from fifth at Monza

Egor Orudzhev bounced back from a disappointing performance in the opening race of the Monza Formula V8 3.5 weekend to score his third victory of 2016 in race two.

The Arden racer made a superb start to move from fifth on the grid into the lead at the first corner, and was hounded by Rene Binder thereafter.

The Charouz-run Lotus Austrian was in search of his first win of the season, but had to settle for second, less than a second behind, at the chequered flag.

"Yesterday both myself and [teammate] Aurelien [Panis] had shocking starts, so I really worked on planning to get my start right with my engineer," said Orudzhev, who had three off-track moments in race one.

"Saturday was really bad. There was nothing wrong with the car, it was just my mistakes. But we did change the car a little today to make it more stable and to my liking, and once I was in the lead I was really just controlling my pace."

Louis Deletraz had a relatively lonely run to third and a second podium of the weekend, reducing his deficit to championship leader Tom Dillmann to 11 points.

AVF charge Dillmann ran fourth, in Deletraz's wheel-tracks, in the early laps but was delayed by a lengthy pit stop and finished eighth.

A number of incidents contributed to a scrappy beginning to the race. Renault Academy driver Deletraz is under investigation for his part in a collision with Matthieu Vaxiviere at the Rettifilo chicane at the start.

Although Vaxiviere appeared to receive just a faint nudge from the Fortec car, the SMP Racing machine was sent on an uncomfortable trajectory over a number of bollards as it cut the apex of the chicane.

The Frenchman's airborne efforts were outdone by unfortunate compatriot Aurelien Panis, who had started on the last row after flat-spotting a tyre in qualifying and was launched skywards after banging wheels with Force India Formula 1 test driver Alfonso Celis Jr and Vitor Baptista.

A six-lap safety-car period followed as Panis was extracted from his car on an air bed before being transferred to hospital. He was reported as being conscious but complaining of neck and back pains.

Vaxiviere pitted for attention under safety car at the completion of the first lap. A second stop as the race went green on lap six was intended to count as a mandatory tyre change, but was judged to have contravened sporting regulations. The decision, and possible damage, prompted Vaxiviere not to rejoin the race from his third stop.

The second Fortec entry of Pietro Fittipaldi moved up to fourth place through the pit stops, while last-to-stop Yu Kanamaru claimed fifth.

After losing pole position when he stalled before the formation lap, race one winner Roy Nissany charged through the order to sixth, ahead of slow-starting third-place qualifier Will Buller.

The Isreali is under investigation however for possibly gaining an advantage when racing wheel-to-wheel with Dillmann, taking to the escape road and rejoining several car lengths ahead.

RACE RESULTS

Originally on Autosport.com