2016 Formula V8 3.5 Series

The 2016 Formula V8 3.5 Series was a multi-event motor racing championship for open wheel, formula racing cars held across Europe. The championship featured drivers competing in Formula V8 3.5 formula race cars that conformed to the technical regulations for the championship. The 2016 season was the first Formula V8 3.5 season organised independently by RPM Racing, after it was announced that Renault Sport would withdraw its backing of the championship at the end of the previous season.[1]

The title was won by Tom Dillmann who took two race victories across the season such as championship runner-up Louis Delétraz, with the latter becoming the best rookie of the year. By winning the second race in Barcelona which turned out to be the title decider, Dillmann managed to overtake Delétraz in the standings in order to win the championship by seven points, becoming the oldest series' world champion aged 27 years. Despite winning the most races of the season with five, Egor Orudzhev finished third in the standings due to inconsistent results in the form of several retirements. Fourth-placed driver Roy Nissany took three victories, amongst winning both races in Silverstone. Matthieu Vaxivière, Aurélien Panis, Matevos Isaakyan and Johnny Cecotto Jr. were the other drivers to achieve at least one win throughout the year.

Teams and drivers

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Team No. Driver name Status Rounds
  Fortec Motorsports[2] 1   Louis Delétraz[3] R All
2   Pietro Fittipaldi[4] R All
  Lotus[2] 3   René Binder[5] All
4   Roy Nissany[5] All
  Arden Motorsport[2] 7   Egor Orudzhev[6] All
8   Aurélien Panis[7] All
  AVF[2] 15   Alfonso Celis Jr.[8] All
16   Tom Dillmann[9] All
  Comtec Racing[10] 17   Thomas Randle[10] R 8–9
  Durango Racing Team[11] 20   Giuseppe Cipriani[12] R All
  RP Motorsport[13] 21   Johnny Cecotto Jr.[14] 1–3
  Artur Janosz[15] R 4
  Marco Bonanomi[16] 6
  William Buller[17] 7
  Jack Aitken[18] R 8–9
22   Vitor Baptista[19] R All
  SMP Racing[2][20] 23   Matthieu Vaxivière[21] All
24   Matevos Isaakyan[12] R 1–4, 6, 8–9
  Teo Martín Motorsport[22] 25   Yu Kanamaru[23] All
26   Beitske Visser[24] All
Icon Meaning
R Series rookie for 2016

Driver changes

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Changed teams
Entering/Re–Entering Formula V8 3.5
Leaving Formula V8 3.5
Mid-season changes

Team changes

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  • After five seasons in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series (the 2005 season and from 2012 to 2015), DAMS will leave the championship to join the GP3 Series.[35] The team's entry will be taken by International GT Open team Teo Martín Motorsport.[22]
  • Swiss team Spirit of Race will make its debut in 2016, taking the slot vacated by International Draco Racing.[36] It was announced in February 2016 that the team would be operated by the SMP Racing concern under a Russian license.[20]
  • Euroformula Open team RP Motorsport will make their series debut in 2016.[13]
  • Carlin announced their withdrawal from the championship in March 2016 in order to concentrate on their GP2 Series activities.[37]
  • Durango Racing Team will make their series debut in 2016, replacing Tech 1 Racing.[11]
  • Pons Racing withdrew from the championship to focus on their Moto2 commitments.[11]

Race calendar

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The provisional calendar for the 2016 season was announced on 17 October 2015, at the final round of the 2015 season.[38] The championship returns to Paul Ricard, Monza and Barcelona. Rounds previously held at Monaco, Nürburgring and Le Mans Bugatti were removed from the schedule.

On 8 March 2016, it was announced that due to operational reasons, the final two rounds of the season would switch dates. The event at Jerez will become the penultimate round with the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya hosting the final round.[39]

Round Circuit Date Supporting
1 R1   Ciudad del Motor de Aragón, Alcañiz 16 April Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
Renault Sport Trophy
R2 17 April
2 R1   Hungaroring, Mogyoród 23 April World Touring Car Championship
R2 24 April
3 R1   Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa 21 May International GT Open
R2 22 May
4 R1   Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet 25 June Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup
R2 26 June
5 R1   Silverstone Circuit 23 July International GT Open
R2 24 July
6 R1   Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 10 September
R2 11 September
7 R1   Autodromo Nazionale Monza 1 October
R2 2 October
8 R1   Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera 29 October Euroformula Open
R2 30 October
9 R1   Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona 5 November International GT Open
R2 6 November

Results

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Round Circuit Pole Position Fastest Lap Winning Driver Winning Team Rookie Winner
1 R1   Ciudad del Motor de Aragón   Egor Orudzhev   Louis Delétraz   Louis Delétraz   Fortec Motorsports   Louis Delétraz
R2   Tom Dillmann   Louis Delétraz   Aurélien Panis   Arden Motorsport   Louis Delétraz
2 R1   Hungaroring   Tom Dillmann   Tom Dillmann   Johnny Cecotto Jr.   RP Motorsport   Louis Delétraz
R2   Tom Dillmann   Roy Nissany   Tom Dillmann   AVF   Louis Delétraz
3 R1   Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps   Aurélien Panis   Egor Orudzhev   Egor Orudzhev   Arden Motorsport   Louis Delétraz
R2   Tom Dillmann   Tom Dillmann   Matthieu Vaxivière   SMP Racing   Vitor Baptista
4 R1   Circuit Paul Ricard   Matthieu Vaxivière   Egor Orudzhev   Egor Orudzhev   Arden Motorsport   Louis Delétraz
R2   Roy Nissany   Louis Delétraz   Louis Delétraz   Fortec Motorsports   Louis Delétraz
5 R1   Silverstone Circuit   Matthieu Vaxivière   Roy Nissany   Roy Nissany   Lotus   Pietro Fittipaldi
R2   Matthieu Vaxivière   Roy Nissany   Roy Nissany   Lotus   Louis Delétraz
6 R1   Red Bull Ring   Louis Delétraz   Matthieu Vaxivière   Matthieu Vaxivière   SMP Racing   Louis Delétraz
R2   Matevos Isaakyan   Matthieu Vaxivière   Aurélien Panis   Arden Motorsport   Matevos Isaakyan
7 R1   Autodromo Nazionale Monza   Roy Nissany   Roy Nissany   Roy Nissany   Lotus   Louis Delétraz
R2   Roy Nissany   Roy Nissany   Egor Orudzhev   Arden Motorsport   Louis Delétraz
8 R1   Circuito de Jerez   Jack Aitken   Matthieu Vaxivière   Matevos Isaakyan   SMP Racing   Matevos Isaakyan
R2   Louis Delétraz   Louis Delétraz   Egor Orudzhev   Arden Motorsport   Louis Delétraz
9 R1   Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya   Tom Dillmann   Louis Delétraz   Egor Orudzhev   Arden Motorsport   Louis Delétraz
R2   Louis Delétraz   Egor Orudzhev   Tom Dillmann   AVF   Pietro Fittipaldi

Championship standings

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Points system

Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers.

Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th 
Points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

Drivers' Championship

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Pos Driver ALC
 
HUN
 
SPA
 
LEC
 
SIL
 
RBR
 
MNZ
 
JER
 
CAT
 
Points
1   Tom Dillmann 3 2 2 1 2 2 4 6 4 4 3 2 12 8 Ret 8 3 1 237
2   Louis Delétraz 1 5 3 4 3 Ret 6 1 10 6 2 4 2 3 12 2 2 4 230
3   Egor Orudzhev Ret 14† Ret 9 1 Ret 1 3 Ret 3 Ret 5 7 1 2 1 1 7 193
4   Roy Nissany 7 7 6 2 Ret Ret 2 2 1 1 6 13 1 6 8 14 9 2 189
5   Aurélien Panis 5 1 4 3 8 5 8 4 5 5 5 1 4 Ret 4 Ret 4 12 183
6   Matthieu Vaxivière 2 Ret 5 5 Ret 1 5 Ret 2 7 1 6 3 Ret 3 3 Ret Ret 175
7   René Binder 4 3 11 7 5 6 3 5 3 2 Ret 12 5 2 5 7 Ret 6 161
8   Yu Kanamaru Ret 4 9 10 4 7 7 11 7 9 7 Ret 6 5 6 10 8 10 85
9   Matevos Isaakyan 12 10 Ret Ret DNS Ret 10 12 12 3 1 6 5 5 70
10   Pietro Fittipaldi 11 9 8 8 11† 10† Ret 7 6 Ret 11 11 11 4 9 12 7 3 60
11   Alfonso Celis Jr. 6 8 Ret Ret 10 3 11 8 Ret 11 4 7 9 10 Ret 9 Ret 13 55
12   Vitor Baptista 8 11 10 Ret 6 4 Ret Ret 8 8 10 8 8 Ret 10 11 6 Ret 51
13   Beitske Visser 10 12 7 DNS 7 9† 9 10 9 10 8 9 14 9 7 5 10 8 50
14   Johnny Cecotto Jr. 9 6 1 6 12† Ret 43
15   Jack Aitken DSQ 4 11 9 14
16   William Buller 10 7 7
17   Giuseppe Cipriani 13 13 Ret Ret 9 8 13 13 11 12 13 Ret 13 11 Ret 15 12 14 6
18   Marco Bonanomi 9 10 3
19   Artur Janosz 12 9 2
20   Thomas Randle Ret 13 Ret 11 0
Pos Driver ALC
 
HUN
 
SPA
 
LEC
 
SIL
 
RBR
 
MNZ
 
JER
 
CAT
 
Points
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap
† – Retired, but classified

Teams' Championship

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Pos Team Car
No.
ALC
 
HUN
 
SPA
 
LEC
 
SIL
 
RBR
 
MNZ
 
JER
 
CAT
 
Points
1   Arden Motorsport 7 Ret 14† Ret 9 1 Ret 1 3 Ret 3 Ret 5 7 1 2 1 1 7 380
8 5 1 4 3 8 5 8 4 5 5 5 1 4 Ret 4 Ret 4 12
2   Lotus 3 4 3 11 7 5 6 3 5 3 2 12 Ret 5 2 5 7 Ret 6 348
4 7 7 6 2 Ret Ret 2 2 1 1 6 13 1 6 8 14 9 2
3   AVF 15 6 8 Ret Ret 9 3 11 8 Ret 11 4 7 9 10 Ret 9 Ret 13 292
16 3 2 2 1 2 2 4 6 4 4 3 2 12 8 Ret 8 3 1
4   Fortec Motorsports 1 1 5 3 4 3 Ret 6 1 10 6 2 4 2 3 11 2 2 4 290
2 11 9 8 8 11† 10† Ret 7 6 Ret 11 11 11 4 9 12 7 3
5   SMP Racing 23 2 Ret 5 5 Ret 1 5 Ret 2 7 1 6 3 Ret 3 3 Ret Ret 245
24 12 10 Ret Ret DNS Ret 10 12 12 3 1 6 5 5
6   Teo Martín Motorsport 25 Ret 4 9 10 4 7 7 11 7 9 7 Ret 6 5 6 10 8 10 135
26 10 12 7 DNS 7 9† 9 10 9 10 8 9 14 9 7 5 10 8
7   RP Motorsport 21 9 6 1 6 12† Ret 12 9 9 10 10 7 DSQ 4 11 9 120
22 8 11 10 Ret 6 4 Ret Ret 8 8 10 8 8 Ret 10 11 6 Ret
8   Durango Racing Team 20 13 13 Ret Ret 9 8 13 13 11 12 13 Ret 13 11 Ret 15 12 14 6
9   Comtec Racing 17 Ret 13 Ret 11 0
Pos Team Car
No.
ALC
 
HUN
 
SPA
 
LEC
 
SIL
 
RBR
 
MNZ
 
JER
 
CAT
 
Points
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap
† – Retired, but classified

References

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  1. ^ Mills, Peter (24 July 2015). "Renault Sport to withdraw its backing of Formula Renault 3.5". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Formula 3.5 unveils team list for 2016". Motorsport.com. Khorounzhiy, Valentin. September 30, 2015. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Allen, Peter (16 November 2015). "Louis Deletraz gets Fortec drive for Formula 3.5 V8 move". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  4. ^ a b Khorounzhiy, Valentin (26 January 2016). "Fittipaldi makes Formula V8 3.5 switch with Fortec". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d Allen, Peter (21 March 2016). "Lotus team to run Binder and Nissany in Formula V8 3.5". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  6. ^ Allen, Peter (22 December 2015). "Egor Orudzhev confirmed to continue with Arden in 2016". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Panis completes Arden Formula V8 3.5 line-up". Motorsport.com. Khorounzhiy, Valentin. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  8. ^ Mills, Peter (26 October 2015). "Alfonso Celis Jr commits to 2016 Formula 3.5 V8 with AVF". Autosport. Haymarket. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
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  15. ^ a b Gruz, David (22 June 2016). "Janosz to make F3.5 debut with RP Motorsport". motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
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  20. ^ a b "SMP Racing with Spirit of Race to become the first Russian team". Formula V8 3.5. RPM Racing. 17 February 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  21. ^ a b c Khorounzhiy, Valentin (25 December 2015). "F3.5 V8 newcomer Spirit of Race signs Vaxivière and Atoev". Motorsport.com. Motor Sport. Archived from the original on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  22. ^ a b Elizalde, Pablo (19 October 2015). "DAMS' Formula 3.5 entry bought out by Spanish businessman". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  23. ^ a b Allen, Peter (25 January 2016). "Yu Kanamaru to race for Teo Martin Formula V8 3.5 team". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  24. ^ a b "ENTRY LIST Round 01/2016 – MOTORLAND ARAGÓN". Formula V8 3.5. RPM Racing. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.[permanent dead link]
  25. ^ David, Gruz (12 February 2016). "Armand signs up with Trident for maiden GP2 campaign". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  26. ^ "Evans and Gelael to join Campos for 2016 GP2 campaign". Motorsport.com. Khorounzhiy, Valentin. 1 December 2015. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  27. ^ Allen, Peter (16 February 2016). "Gustav Malja signs with Rapax for full-time GP2 switch". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  28. ^ Allen, Peter (18 December 2015). "Lynn joined by Latifi at DAMS in GP2 for 2016". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  29. ^ David, Gruz (3 February 2016). "Rowland becomes Renault F1 junior, secures full-time GP2 seat". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  30. ^ "Jaafar joins HTP Motorsport for Blancpain GT". Motorsport.com. Chokhani, Darshan. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  31. ^ "Roberto Merhi Rejoins Manor For 2016 FIA WEC". dailysportscar.com. DailySportscar. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  32. ^ O'Connell, R.J. (24 February 2016). "Dean Stoneman switches to Indy Lights with Andretti". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  33. ^ "Nyck de Vries confirmed at ART Grand Prix". GP3 Series. GP2 Series Limited. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
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  35. ^ Mills, Peter (1 October 2015). "DAMS switches from Formula Renault 3.5 to GP3 for 2016". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  36. ^ Costa, Massimo (16 October 2015). "Renault 3.5 a Jerez Spirit of Race subentra a Draco" [Renault 3.5 at Jerez Spirit of Race takes over from Draco]. ItaliaRacing.net (in Italian). Inpagina. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  37. ^ "Carlin pulls out of Formula V8 3.5 to focus on GP2". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
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