Aleshin extends championship lead in France

Mikhail Aleshin retained his lead in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series today, following a chaotic race in Magny Cours. In a race which was affected throughout by intermittent rain, Aleshin finished fourth, despite a short excursion off track and consequently leaves France with a nine point lead in the championship. Team mate Jake Rosenzweig had an eventful race and crossed the line in 13th place.

Mikhail Aleshin Credit: World Series By Renualt

A heavy rain shower just as the drivers lined up on the grid forced organisers to delay the start as the teams deliberated over slick or wet tyres. Aleshin started on slicks from fourth place while Rosenzweig took a gamble on wets from 16th on the grid. Rosenzweig immediately made up two places as Hartley and Move failed to leave the grid for the green flag lap and started from the pit lane. Both Carlin drivers made a good start, with Aleshin third in the first corner and Rosenzweig 14th, and by the end of the first lap the American had moved up to 11th.

On lap four several drivers were handed drive through penalties for changing tyres on the grid after the five minute board, including Aleshin's closest championship rivals Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Guerrieri.

Rosenzweig meanwhile made his mandatory stop on lap five, swapping his grooved rubber for used slick tyres. The Carlin mechanics completed a quick tyre change, but Rosenzweig was unable to leave his pit box due to a stream of traffic in the pit lane and consequently lost two places. On lap seven, Aleshin made his pit stop which passed with incident and once all drivers had made their stops, Aleshin was second, while Rosenzweig was 14th.

By lap 15, Rosenzweig found himself in a multi-car tussle with Nelson Panciatici, Sergio Canamasas and Daniel Zampieri, passing Zampieri with a great move to take 12th place. The American had a lucky escape later though, when a spinning Jan Charouz nearly collected the Carlin man at the hairpin.

The rain struck again on lap 18, with a heavy shower creating slippery conditions out on track. Seeing he was catching race leader Nathanael Berthon, Aleshin pushed hard with the race lead in his sights. The Russian tried to overtake, but outbraked himself and ran wide to avoid a collision, taking a brief excursion off track in the process. Aleshin did well to make his way back out of the gravel, but returned to the track in fourth place.

Aleshin immediately tried to fight back with an attack on third placed man Filip Salaquarda on lap 21, but couldn't make a safe move stick. The action continued to the chequered flag, with Aleshin then finding himself under pressure from Salaquarda's team mate Guerrieri on the last lap. The pair touched, but Aleshin was able to continue and crossed the line fourth, with Rosenzweig 13th.

Speaking about his race, Aleshin said, "I'm glad to have come away with solid points but disappointed to be honest that I didn't finish on the podium. I had second and I think the pace for the lead. It's really unfortunate that I went off, but I was fighting for the lead and these things happen sometimes. Towards the end of the race my engine started to overheat - I guess due to debris I picked up when I went off track, so to be honest I was worried I might not finish at all. The important thing is to keep taking points, which we did this weekend, to extend the lead in the championship."

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