Pietro Fittipaldi (Lotus) Wins And Regains The Series Lead In Mexico

Emerson Fittipaldi on the grid with his nephew Pietro

Pietro Fittipaldi (Lotus) secured his fifth win of 2017 today at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico, dominating from pole position to regain the World Series V8 3.5 lead. He now stands with 183 points, two more than Matevos Isaakyan (SMP Racing by AVF) who scored P2 in a comeback race and beat Alex Palou (Teo Martin Motorsport). The Spaniard, who rounded out the overall podium was also the best-placed rookie.

It has been a triumphant day for Fittipaldi, who scored two pole positions in the morning and brought his total for 2017 to 10 beating every previous record in World Series history. Only Daniel Ricciardo in 2010 an Kevin Magnussen in 2013 had set eight poles, a record that was completely destroyed by the Brazilian. He also had the chance to rely on the presence of his grandfather Emerson Fittipaldi, a 2-time Formula 1 World Champion back in the 70s.

At the start, Fittipaldi stayed into the lead while Egor Orudzhev (SMP Racing) went off-track forcing the stewards to call a safety-car situation. At the re-start, the Teo Martin Motorsport duo of Alex Palou and Konstantin Tereschenko had to deal with Isaakyan's comeback, the Russian going by both of them on lap 6 and 19 respectively.

It was a challenging race for the home heroes. Alfonso Celis Jr. (Fortec Motorsports) ran with a damaged front wing due to an early contact, ending up in in fifth place but moving up to third place in the overall standings in the process. Diego Menchaca (Fortec Motorsports) faced a troubled start and had to recover from a couple of offs, finishing eight in a comeback run on Roy Nissany (RP Motorsport) during the final sector of the final lap.

Pietro Fittipaldi (Lotus)

“This is kind of a home race for me, as It’s the closest to Brazil and because my sponsor, Escuderia Telmex, is Mexican. The team did a great job and the car was great too. I took the lead at the start and never looked back: this is the result of our great work. I had no holiday, working hard at the simulator and I’m really happy for the results we achieved today. Of course having my grandfather here makes everything more special".

Matevos Isaakyan (SMP Racing by AVF)

“The start has been chaotic, I lost one position but I knew that the race was going to be long, After the restart I managed to keep my position and I progressively closed the gap with the other drivers, even setting the fastest lap of the race, so I’m happy with this result".

Alex Palou (Teo Martin Motorsport)

“Podium is a good result, but we didn’t have the pace of the other guys in front. I tried to do my best as I also had an issue with the brake pedal. We have to work a bit for tomorrow and hope for some rain as we had a difficult qualy. The pit-stop might help our recovery".