Merhi 2603

F.Renault 3.5 – Zeta Corse keep momentum in Jerez

A sunny and warm weather welcomed Zeta Corse at the “Circuito de Velocidad de Jerez” on Tuesday, the second day of the final F.Renault 3.5 season test. On a track that has witnessed many historical moments for F.1 the Russian team kept working hard to prepare for the season that is going to start in 20-days time in Monza, evaluating different setup solutions and working mainly on race simulations with high fuel loads and used tyres. In such conditions, both Roberto Merhi and Roman Mavlanov made some good steps forward in terms of pace compared to the previous day, the Spaniard finishing just a few tenths adrift of top-ten pace. While Merhi worked with the engineers on the car’s setup, Mavlanov focused on improving his confidence with both the car and the Jerez track, one of the most challenging venues for a Rookie. The P16 spot earned on old tyres clearly shows that Roman is getting acquainted with the World Series car, and that he’s preparing for the Monza season opener in the best possible way.
 
Roberto Merhi: S1 – P21; S2 – P13
“Today we kept working on our setup, finding some good solutions and trying some others that didn’t give the expected results. Anyway we made some progress, and the pace on old tyres has improved considerably. We still didn’t go for a real ‘qualifying’ run but it’s something we’ll keep for the last day, I’m very curious to see what we can do on low-fuel and new tyres”.
 
Roman Mavlanov: S1 – P22; S2 – P16
“I had quite a good day, Jerez is not an easy track to learn but the more I drive the better it gets. Today I got into the rhythm of the track much better than yesterday, and my laptimes got more consistent. There’s still a lot of room for improvement, but I’m definitely working in the right direction”.