Home News Roberto Merhi secures maiden pole in Formula Renault 3.5

Roberto Merhi secures maiden pole in Formula Renault 3.5

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
Photo: Florent Gooden / DPPI / Renault Sport Media

Photo: Florent Gooden / DPPI / Renault Sport Media

Spanish racer Roberto Merhi secured his and his team’s first pole position in Formula Renault 3.5 in Sunday qualifying at Moscow Raceway.

Merhi led the field during the usual halfway point break and then managed a spectacular lap on new tyres in the final five minutes to secure first on the grid.

The Spaniard’s maiden pole was under real threat from fellow single-seater returnee Richie Stanaway, but the Kiwi ended up just 0.015s off on his quickest lap.

Red Bull junior Pierre Gasly was best of the rest half a second adrift of the leading duo. He will be joined by his former Eurocup title rival Oliver Rowland on row two, with the Brit posting a last-second lap under the checkered flag.

Yesterday’s race winner Sergey Sirotkin was just 0.001s down in fifth and will start ahead of Marlon Stockinger, Zoel Amberg and Matias Laine.

Championship leader Carlos Sainz had a slightly better qualifying than yesterday’s disastrous session, posting the ninth quickest lap time. The Spaniard will start the race from 11th, having incurred a two-place grid penalty for his race one collision with Rowland.

As such, AVF’s Beitske Visser is promoted to ninth, with Will Stevens joining her on the fifth row.

The session’s only major incident occurred early on when Draco’s Pietro Fantin went off in the gravel at turn 11.

Session results
Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Roberto Merhi Zeta Corse 1:20.773 11
2 Richie Stanaway Lotus 1:20.788 0.015 13
3 Pierre Gasly Arden Motorsport 1:21.325 0.552 15
4 Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 1:21.388 0.615 14
5 Sergey Sirotkin Fortec Motorsports 1:21.389 0.616 15
6 Marlon Stockinger Lotus 1:21.406 0.633 12
7 Zoel Amberg AVF 1:21.487 0.714 15
8 Matias Laine Strakka Racing 1:21.539 0.766 15
9 Beitske Visser AVF 1:21.614 0.841 15
10 Will Stevens Strakka Racing 1:21.681 0.908 14
11 Carlos Sainz* DAMS 1:21.575 0.802 15
12 William Buller Arden Motorsport 1:21.729 0.956 15
13 Oscar Tunjo Pons Racing 1:21.729 0.956 13
14 Jazeman Jaafar ISR 1:21.730 0.957 15
15 Norman Nato DAMS 1:21.975 1.202 15
16 Marco Sorensen Tech 1 Racing 1:21.998 1.225 15
17 Luca Ghiotto International Draco Racing 1:22.129 1.356 13
18 Roman Mavlanov Zeta Corse 1:22.139 1.366 13
19 Meindert van Buuren Pons Racing 1:22.380 1.607 13
20 Pietro Fantin International Draco Racing 1:26.434 5.661 4

* – two-place grid penalty