Aleshin takes front row start in Monaco

Carlin's Mikhail Aleshin will start from the front row of the grid in Monaco tomorrow, as the Formula Renault 3.5 cars line up for the fifth race of the season. The flying Russian was P1 in his qualifying session but lost out as track conditions improved for the second qualifying group. Jake Rosenzweig will line up 15th for his first race in the famous Principality.

Mikhail Aleshin Credit: Carlin

To ease the potential problems with traffic around the twisting street circuit, the Formula Renault 3.5 cars were split into two groups for qualifying in Monaco this morning. As the current championship leader, Aleshin was put into group A, which would take to the track first, while team mate Rosenzweig was allocated to group B.

In cooler conditions than Thursday's practice session, Aleshin led out the cars in group A for their 30 minute qualifying session. The Carlin man was immediately P1, dropping briefly to second place as Stefano Coletti went quicker. With 15 minutes to go, Aleshin pitted for new rubber and with eight minutes to go was back on top of the timesheets. A red flag briefly halted proceedings as Julian Leal made contact with the wall, but once the session recommenced Aleshin reasserted his dominance in provisional pole to go three tenths quicker than his nearest competitor.

With the 12 cars in group A having set their times, group B took to the track, including the number four car of Rosenzweig. The American was on the pace, his first lap putting him seventh in his group where he would remain for the majority of the session. Watching from the pitlane, Aleshin's attentions were on the front runners, as he hoped no-one would beat his time of 1.27.011 and steal pole. As the session progressed it was clear the track was improving and at the chequered flag, Daniel Ricciardo had benefited from the better track conditions to beat Aleshin's time. With the times combined from both groups, Aleshin will line up second for tomorrow's race, while Rosenzweig will line up 15th.

Reflecting on his qualifying session, Aleshin said, "I think I did everything I could, but at the same time I'm frustrated. The car felt really good and I was consistently putting in good laps, just hoping it would be good enough. It's a real disadvantage being in the first qualifying group as the second group is always going to be faster; I could feel during our session that the track was getting quicker and quicker. I feel positive, the race tomorrow is something else and anything can happen. I will just do my job and concentrate on making a good start. I have to say a lot of thanks to the team for giving me such a good car that allowed me to perform so well this weekend."

Trevor Carlin added, "Another fantastic qualifying session from Mikhail, he was three tenths clear of the next car in his group and looked very dominant. Unfortunately pole position was out of reach because of the ever improving track conditions in session two. Mikhail is a very mature racer and I've every confidence that he will make the most of his front row start. Jake is still making good progress and once again kept away from the barriers today."

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