Zanella and I.S.R. just shy of the top ten in Catalunya season finale

The final race of the F.Renault 3.5 season, held today in Barcelona, had a bitter taste for ISR. The Czech team had the potential to close the racing year on a high, but the race panned out in a different way, leading to a DNF for Sergey Sirotkin and to a disappointing P11 finish for Christopher Zanella. The day had started with a troubled Qualifying effort, as the session had to be shortened due to foggy weather. Zanella managed to make the most of the few minutes available to post the 6th quickest laptime, while Sirotkin didn’t manage to put a clear lap together and closed the session in P15. The race proved to be even less lucky for the Russian youngster, as after a good start Sergey clashed with Will Buller on lap 3 and had to retire from the race due to suspension damage. Zanella, in the meantime, lost a couple of spots at the start and some more seconds and places in the pit-stop, when his gearbox went to neutral right when he had to blast away. After the tyre change the swiss started to suffer from understeer too, and couldn’t do better than P11. Despite a disappointing final race, ISR’s balance for the season is still positive, with 3 podium finishes and 8th place in the Teams’ standings. Sergey Sirotkin: Q2 – P15; R2 – DNF “The day didn’t start too well with that odd qualifying session, but I was still upbeat for the race. Sadly, I tried to pass Buller on the inside when he opened the door with a little mistake, but there wasn’t enough room and we clashed. It was a race incident, there isn’t much more to say”. Christopher Zanella: Q2 – P6; R2 – P11 “Qualifying was fine as I managed to post a quick lap despite the red flag, but the race was quite disappointing. I thought that my start was good but Nato and Sainz both passed me, and in the pit-stop I lost another couple of spots when my gearbox passed to neutral without a reason. P11 was really the best I could do”.