F.Renault 3.5 – AVF just shy of the top ten in Monza Race 2

In a sunny and warm Monza, the track that has played host to the opening act of the 2014 F.Renault 3.5 championship, AVF kept performing well for the third day in a row. On the last day of running, that in traditional WSR fashion hosted Qualifying 2 and Race 2, the Spanish team once more showed good competitiveness, missing a top ten finish only because of an unfortunate contact that hampered Zoel Amberg towards half-race. After taking P12 in Qualifying, the Swiss talent had managed to hold on to his position at the start and in the early part of the race, keeping at bay a very aggressive Merhi who was putting pressure on him from behind. Unluckily, one of the Spaniard’s attacks ended up in a contact at the first chicane, a light clash that damaged Zoel’s underfloor enough to compromise the balance of his car. In such conditions, Amberg couldn’t do more than cruise to the end of the race, losing only one place to cross the line in 13th place.

On the team’s other car Beitske Visser drove a fierce race too: after an amazing start that allowed her to climb from 16th place to P13, the talented Dutch girl was under huge pressure for the whole race but she coped with that really well: after losing a couple of spots to quicker rivals, she settled on a pace that was quick enough to fend off attacks from Mavlanov and Vaxiviere, who were pushing really hard to overtake her. A spin on the very last lap meant that Beitske took the flag in P17, but that doesn’t diminish at all the amazing performance she posted today.

Zoel Amberg: Q2 – P11; R2 – P13

“The race itself wasn’t too good, but I had a good fight with Merhi, it was quite fun. Unluckily, at the braking zone for the first chicane Roberto hit me from behind, and something got damaged on my car. From then on controlling the rear became very difficult, and so I just had to cruise until the finish. All in all it wasn’t the weekend I had expected, but Monza is a very peculiar track, I’m sure we’ll be much more competitive in Alcaniz”.

Beitske Visser: Q2 – P17; R2 – P17

“Unlike yesterday, without any issue in Qualifying I was finally allowed to show my true pace. Then, in the race, things went even better. I had a great start and climbed as high as P13, and then I tried to hold the position as long as I could. I wasn’t quick enough for that though, and so I slowly dropped a couple of place. The final part of the race was fun: I managed to keep Vaxiviere and Mavlanov at bay for more than 10 laps, and even if I’m not happy with my final spin, I’d say that I proved myself anyway with today’s performance”.