F.Renault 3.5 – Zeta Corse scores more valuable points in Race 1 at Motorland Aragón

Zeta Corse had a clean day at Motorland Aragón as the team and its two drivers lined-up at the Spanish venue for the first Qualifying and Race of the World Series Renault 3.5 weekend. In Qualifying 1, 23-year-old Spaniard Roberto Merhi put together a quick lap and positioned himself in row two for the opening race. Unfortunately, due to a rival’s mistake, he found himself in a bad position approaching the first corner and lost a couple of spots. As he tried to fight his way back though, he started experiencing an early loss of grip that prevented him from catching up with his rivals. In the closing stages, he then had to defend himself from the attacks of rival Matthieu Vaxiviere, task that he successfully accomplished ending up as the second best rookie of the day. He’s still determined to battle for a podium finish on Sunday and to keep up his streak of consecutive points finishes.

After a tough day of Practice, Roman Mavlanov found a consistent pace throughout the whole race distance. The 19-year-old Russian racer is getting the right confidence with the demanding F.Renault 3.5 race car and is now hoping to take a further step tomorrow. As well as Merhi, he will be back on-track for Qualifying 2 at 10:05 before lining-up for Race 2 at 14:00.

Roberto Merhi Q1 – P4; R1 – P6

“Despite the good points finish, the race didn’t go according to plans: I was hoping to catch the guys I had in front but I eventually finished in 6th. At the start, Rowland braked too late so I couldn’t make the corner losing a couple of positions. But then from lap three we started experiencing a loss of grip and things became very difficult. I tried to save the tires because I knew that I would have paid the price of the wear at the end. I defended my position from Vaxiviere but I want to improve for tomorrow. We will try and do some changes for Qualifying 2 and Race 2”

Roman Mavlanov Q1 – P19; R1 – P17

“I’m getting more and more consistent. I still have to work on the physical aspect although it’s getting much better and I’m not too far away. The fitness makes a massive difference. Also, we need to move on in qualifying because it’s really important. Now we have to work and keep improving tomorrow too”.