After the sensational home win scored at Moscow Raceway at the end of June, Zeta Corse delivered another extraordinary performance at the Nürburgring, in Race 2 of the World Series Renault 3.5 weekend at the German venue. Spaniard Roberto Merhi was once again the star of the day. The 23-year-old racer set a blistering pace in Qualifying 2 to take the pole position, then drove away at the start, also avoiding a nearby contact. After the safety-car came in, he continued to set the pace and never looked back also thanks to the outstanding job done by the team in the pits. On the other hand, his team-mate Roman Mavlanov was also impressive, scoring his best qualifying effort of the season in 11th and mastering the tricky conditions to edge some much more experienced drivers. Unfortunately, he was hit by bad luck in Race 2. At the start, he kept control of a messy situation in front of him but the front suspension hatch of his chassis came lose, hampering most of his visibility. That cost him lots of spots in an effort to survive. Then the hatch finally came off, hitting Roman and forcing him into a spin.
With Roberto, who also captured the rookie trophy, now second in points and Roman making great steps towards the front, Zeta Corse and the whole World Series Renault 3.5 paddock will be off to a well-deserved summer break. The action will be back underway on the 13th and 14th of September at the Hungaroring circuit in Budapest.
Roberto Merhi – Q2: P1; R2 P1
“It’s been a perfect weekend. In Q1 we missed the pole by a narrow margin and from that point on it was almost perfect. The car was extremely quick so when I got in front in Race 2 I tried not to make mistake and focused on maintaining the gap with Vaxiviere and accomplished the job. I’m happy for this win and for the whole team. We hope to continue this way in Budapest”.
Roman Mavlanov – Q2: P11 – R2: P13
“The qualifying on the rain was good and also the start. I took the wide line to avoid the crash, so I gained and lost some positions. Then the front hatch started to come off and I couldn’t see nothing. It eventually got loose, hitting me and making me spin. At the pit we had to change the front tires that were flatspotted and that cost us more. There has been some improvement but there’s still a lot of work to do and I hope to keep improving with the team at Budapest…”.