MRF Challenge 2015: Pietro Fittipaldi extends his championship lead after Round 3
Pietro Fittipaldi extended his lead by 16 points in the MRF Challenge 2015 championship after Round 3. Fittipaldi finished third in Race 3 of this round and won the fourth race. At second place in the overall championship is Nikita Troitckii with 152 points, followed by Tatiana Calderon with 147 points and Alessio Picariello with 137 points.
In the first race of the day, Picariello took the lead from pole position, with Troitckii and Fittipaldi close behind. On the second lap, the safety car was deployed for two laps when Dylan Young crashed out. At the restart, Troitckii got right on Picariello's tail and managed to pass him on Lap 6. Unfortunately for her, the race was red-flagged and stopped in the same lap when Arjun Narendran and Mathew Draper collided. This gave Picariello the win as he was leading in the previous lap.
Starting on a reverse grid, Harrison Newey took the lead from Sean Walkinshaw, while Fittipaldi and Picariello moved up to third and fourth. Fittipaldi managed to get ahead of Walkinshaw to put pressure on Newey. But Newey was penalised for a jump start and when he didn't enter the pit lane straight away, he was black-flagged. Fittipaldi took the lead and held it till the end while Picariello made it up to second by the end, followed by Troitckii. Tarun Reddy was involved in a crash while he fought for fifth with Alesi and Fewtrell.
"It feels great to stand on the top step of the podium again. The car was great this weekend and I had a great start. I overtook Walkinshaw and Newey and then it was just about managing the gap to Alessio. I can't wait to get to India to do the final round of the season," said Fittipaldi.
Reddy, who was earlier declared the winner of Race 2, lost the win after Troitskii lodged an appeal against him stating that he pushed her off the road in their fight for second. The appeal was successful and resulted in a 20-second time penalty being imposed on Reddy.
