AVF takes second pole in a Row in Budapest

AVF by Adrián Vallés had a great Saturday at the Hungaroring, home of the second round of the 2016 Formula V8 3.5 season. The Spanish squad took the pole honours in the first qualifying session with a stunning mark set by Tom Dillmann. The French driver posted a sensational lap in 1’26″729, setting the new lap record for the series at the Budapest venue. Team-mate Alfonso Celis Jr left a strong impression too, taking P6 on the grid.

In race one, Dillmann delivered a perfect start which enabled him to open up a gap on his followers. Unfortunately, the safety-car came in on lap 9 and wiped out his advantage. After the restart, Tom lost the lead by missing the braking point at turn 13 but managed to score a very important second position anyway. Dillmann has now moved into the the driver championship’s lead with 51 points. AVF maintains its leadership in the team standings with 63 points.

On the other hand, it has been a very unlucky race for Celis, who had to start with problems to his mirrors and without any radio assistance. The Mexican had a tough time while looking at the rivals behind him, but he kept fighting for sixth place. On lap 9, he eventually had to retire after making contact with another car, and also received a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow’s race.

Alfonso Celis (#15) Q1 P6 – Race 1 DNF

“In qualifying we were not exactly where we wanted to be as the potential of the car was a lot higher. I think I could have scored P2. P6 has been a big deal anyway. We were optimistic about the race, but I had issues with the radio and with my mirrors right from the start, so I couldn’t see behind me properly. My incident was completely avoidable, but I just couldn’t see. I’m really sorry for the contacts with Matevos and Egor. For tomorrow, we will try to fix these problems. I was hoping to finish on the podium, but tomorrow is another day and we will give our best”.

Tom Dillmann (#16) Q1 P1 – Race 1 P2

“I had a good start and I was leading. I pushed hard during the first two laps to open up a gap and be comfortably on top while saving the tyres. Unfortunately, the safety car came out and my gap got reduced. I went too forward on the brakes at the restart, waited too much and missed the breaking point. I think I had more pace but I was losing downforce. It’s disappointing for the team, even if for sure 3 podiums in a row is great I’m not thinking to that, I want to win”.