F.RENAULT 3.5 Monza, Race 2 – I.S.R. AGAIN IN THE POINTS

After yesterday’s third place, I.S.R. and Christopher Zanella clinched another good result in Monza, where F.Renault 3.5 was holding the maiden round of its 2013 season. Zanella crossed the line in 8th place, well into the points despite a 9th row start that was the consequence of a difficult qualifying session. The timed practice was held on a drying but damp track , conditions that on Saturday had seen Christopher shine as the third quickest overall. Anyway today things were quite different for him: he struggled for grip and ended the session in P19, a disappointing and unexpected outcome. Knowing that a long race was still to come the Swiss driver didn’t lose his spirit, and Monza’s pale sun brought good news in the form of a fully dry track for the Race. Christopher’s recovery began right from the green light with a slingshot start that launched him in eleventh place at the end of lap 1, and then continued through the race with another three overtakings that were worth four championship points, for a total tally of 19 that means fifth place in the drivers strandings Sergey Sirotkin’s race was less positive despite a better starting position: the Russian driver was 5th at the end of the qualifying session, and his pace in the dry hinted to solid podium chances. Unluckily some gearbox issues hampered his race right from the start, when slow upshifts demoted him to P7. Sergey coped with the glitch for the whole race, but on the last lap the issue got worse, forcing him to stop on track while he was 8th. Sergey Sirotkin: R2 ­ Retired; Q2 ­ P4 “I didn’t have the weekend I was hoping for, that’s sure. Before the race things seemed to be ok, the track was dry and I had always been quick on slick tyres, so I was very confident. Anyway I had problems right from the start, when gear upshifts weren’t smooth and cost me a lot of time. I tried has hard as I could but I couldn’t be as quick as in the previous dry sessions, and so I just tried to bring some points home. Unluckily my clutch let go with just one lap to the finish, and I had to retire”. Christopher Zanella: R2 ­ P8; Q2 ­ P19 “Obviously qualifying was the main issue we had today. Starting far behind we had to try something different and so we opted for a risky setup, with a really low downforce solution. This meant that as tyres started to wear the car became more and more difficult to control, especially under braking. As a consequence I couldn’t do better than eight, but considering where we started it’s a good result, and the balance of my F.Renault 3.5 debut weekend is undoubtedly positive”.