Aleshin finishes second in Hungary

Mikhail Aleshin drove a solid race to take second place in Hungary this afternoon to retain the lead in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. The Carlin racer had an uneventful race from his second placed grid slot and was unchallenged to the chequered flag where he took his fifth podium of the season. Jake Rosenzweig meanwhile had an action packed race in the mid-field to cross the line in a competitive ninth place.

Mikhail Aleshin Credit: World Series By Renualt

Lining up in his second placed grid slot for the start of the race this afternoon, Aleshin took his place behind pole sitter Daniel Ricciardo. The Carlin man made a good getaway however, and managed to pull a good gap to the cars behind and challenge Ricciardo into the first corner. Unwilling to risk everything on the first lap, Aleshin avoided any possible collision and slotted into second, just ahead of Sten Pentus who had moved up to third. Rosenzweig meanwhile had managed to hold onto his 15th place.

As the race got into a steady rhythm, Rosenzweig was involved in a tight battle with Jon Lancaster and Daniel Move in a fight for 13th place. Lancaster finally got the better of Rosenzweig after some wheel to wheel fighting, putting the American 15th.

A short safety car period on lap five bunched up the field again and at the restart, Aleshin looked to have made a better start than Ricciardo and was right on the gearbox of Carlin's 2009 British F3 champion. Aleshin couldn't quite make a move stick however, and settled back into second, while Rosenzweig was holding onto 15th.

At the front, Ricciardo had managed to break away, but Aleshin looked unchallenged for second place, as Sten Pentus and Brendon Hartley began a race-long battle for third behind him. Rosenzweig meanwhile was in the middle of a chain of race cars, with eighth - 13th place nose to tail. The racing clearly got too close on lap 15 as several cars crashed and following some immediate and delayed retirements; Rosenzweig had leapt to ninth place.

Aleshin continued his lonely race in second place to retain a lead in the drivers' standings, while Rosenzweig continued his error free run to take ninth place and strengthen Carlin's second place in the teams' championship.

Reflecting on his race, championship leader Aleshin said, "We didn't have quite enough pace to challenge Dani [Ricciardo] today, I couldn't quite make it past him into the first corner. I think maybe I was a little too careful and maybe not quite aggressive enough. I think even if I had got past it would have been difficult to hold Daniel behind me. Second is a good result for us here; it isn't one of my favourite tracks so I'm happy with our performance today. The team have done a great job so far, so thanks to them for their hard work."

Qualifying for round 11 will take place at 09.15 local time tomorrow, followed by race two at 13.04.

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