Zeta and Merhi charge to fourth place in Moscow Race 1 Amazing recovery drive for Mavlanov
Home sweet home, they say, and there’s a reason if proverbs are usually believed to get it right. Today, that’s sure, home was sweet to Zeta Corse: in Moscow Raceway, the track located in the outskirts of the Russian capital, the team managed by Roman Novikov delivered an amazing showing thanks to flawless performances by their drivers, who both ended up on the special F.Renault 3.5 “Rookie” podium, in P1 and P3 respectively. Roberto Merhi proved to be in good form right from the morning qualifying session, that saw him post the third quickest time just two tenths shy of pole position. His effort was partly spoilt by a four-places penalty he was handed for a misunderstanding with a fellow competitor, but in the race he got rid of that disadvantage immediately. While some of his rivals, especially Rowland and Gasly, stalled at the start, Merhi’s getaway from P7 was brilliant allowing him to overtake Jaafar into Turn 1 and secure fourth place. From then on he pushed as hard as he could from flag to flag, keeping his Malaysian rival at bay in the early part of the race, and then opening a gap that got bigger and bigger as laps went by.
On the team’s other car home hero Roman Mavlanov had to cope with a difficult qualifying: despite posting competitive sector times the Russian youngster didn’t manage to complete a quick lap due to traffic, a common issue on Moscow Raceway’s twisty layout. Anyway, Roman’s reaction to the odds was great: with an amazing start he managed to climb from P20 to P13 just between the main straight and Turn 1, and after that he fought fiercely in the middle of the pack, keeping at bay experienced rivals as Sainz Jr and Sorensen and passing Visser for 12th place with two laps to go.
Roberto Merhi: Q1 – P3; R1 – P4
“The penalty that demoted me to P7 after qualifying was unfortunate, but today our car was really good and allowed me to climb back to fourth place. It was unexpected as this track doesn’t offer many overtaking spots, but differently from my rivals I didn’t do any mistake. The early part of the race wasn’t easy, with Jaafar putting pressure on me from behind, but as I burned fuel and the car got lighter the balance got better and better, giving me enough performance to create a gap and cross the line in 4th place with no worries”.
Roman Mavlanov: Q1 – P20; R1 – P13
“After qualifying I was quite disappointed because all my good laps were ruined by traffic, but in the race I made up for that with a very aggressive attitude. I passed four cars at the start taking the outside line on the main straight and into Turn 1, and after closing the first lap in 13th place I found myself in a fierce battle with Visser. I was much quicker than her, but she was closing all the gaps, very roughly at times. In the end I managed to pass her, crossing the line in P12 after a very fun race. I hope to keep momentum tomorrow, doing even better”.