Aleshin takes wet victory in Magny Cours

Mikhail Aleshin took victory number three of the season for the Carlin team this afternoon, with a stunning victory in round eight of the Formula Renault 3.5 season in Magny Cours. The championship leader played the waiting game behind first placed man Esteban Guerrieri until taking the lead on lap 14 and racing onto victory to extend his championship lead to 10 points.

Mikhail Aleshin Credit: World Series By Renualt

Following very heavy rain over lunch, standing water lay across many parts of the track by the time the drivers took to the grid for the first race of the weekend. Having both qualified well this morning, Aleshin lined up fourth, with Jake Rosenzweig ninth. As the lights went out, both Carlin drivers made a good start, as Aleshin jinked to the left and Rosenzweig right. At the first corner, Aleshin was third and battling for second place. The Russia racer made a move stick and at the end of lap 1 was second behind Esteban Guerrieri while Rosenzweig was 11th.

By lap three, the conditions were still treacherous with several drivers making mistakes and running wide off track. Rosenzweig found himself in a three way battle with Sten Pentus and Victor Garcia. The three were wheel to wheel for several corners while at the front Aleshin was closing in on Guerrieri.

By lap six, Aleshin had closed in on the leader, but was now under attack from behind as third place man Nelson Panciatici caught the leading duo. The Carlin man withstood the pressure however and on lap 12 almost passed Guerrieri at the last chicane but couldn't quite make the move stick. Aleshin's patience paid off on lap 14 when he took the lead down the pit straight.

While Aleshin finally had a clear track ahead of him, Rosenzweig had no such luxury and was still hampered by the spray in 12th place. By lap 17, Aleshin had built up a 6.4 second gap, which was up to 15 seconds by lap 23. Rosenzweig meanwhile was still struggling with handling problems and lost out to Lancaster on lap 18 to drop to 13th place. At the chequered flag, the American had held onto 13th, while ahead of him Aleshin strengthened his title bid with his third victory of the season.

Race winner Aleshin said, "My start was quite good; I had minimum wheel spin but it still wasn't enough to pass the three cars ahead of me! I had a good fight with Panciatici and then after the second corner I managed to overtake him. Then it was basically a fight with Guerrieri. In the middle of the race I was catching him quite quickly as he started to make some mistakes. We got quite close a few times but I had a better exit out of the chicane and passed him on the straight. Then it was a case of not making any mistakes. The car was really good, I want to congratulate the team and say thanks to them for all their hard work so far this weekend."

Trevor Carlin added, "I'm absolutely delighted for Mikhail and the team to win in such difficult conditions. It's especially nice to win in France - the home of Renault and on the weekend that Mikhail is testing the F1 car. We now need to keep pushing and try and repeat this victory tomorrow. We'll also be working hard to help Jake move up the order and solve the problems he had this afternoon."

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