From Monaco’s warm sun to a chilly Spa-Francorchamps: the two venues that host round three and four of the F.Renault 3.5 championship couldn’t be more different from one another, and that isn’t just about weather: if Monaco is the slowest track in the calendar, the Belgian circuit boasts one of the quickest layouts in motorsport, with fast sweepers, downhill sections and probably the most famous corner in the world, Eau Rouge.
On such a challenging track Zeta Corse endured an eventful day, that saw Roberto Merhi hampered by a technical issue in the morning session. The clutch gremlin that hit the Spaniard’s car was nothing serious but it still forced him to miss the majority of Free Practice 1, a big setback for the team’s setup work. Despite being put on the back foot so early in the weekend Zeta Corse fought back with a positive afternoon session, and will work hard this evening to make sure to overcome the odds.
On the team’s other car, meanwhile, Roman Mavlanov enjoyed a troublefree day. That allowed the Russian rookie to focus on putting miles under his belt, something he will need to make the most of the car in tomorrow’s sessions. The team will be back on track at 10.25 AM for Qualifying 1, while Race 1 will start at 3.25 PM.
Roberto Merhi: FP1- P14; FP2 – P13
“Our day didn’t start too well because I had a clutch issue while practicing a start and that basically ruined our morning session. In the afternoon the team did a good job, but obviously losing around forty minutes of running this morning hampered. We’ll work hard this evening to overcome the lack of running with data analysis, hoping to get a good setup for tomorrow”.
Roman Mavlanov: FP1 – P20; FP2 – P20
“I raced here last year with the F.Renault 2.0 but in this car it’s a completely different story. It’s amazing, but the performance envelope is so different that making the most of the car will require more time and more miles. Still I have reasons to be happy with today’s job. I did no mistakes and I found some time in each lap. My best laptime from FP2 is 4 seconds better than the best from FP1 and that’s a clear sign that I improved a lot, now I just have to keep momentum”.