Disappointment For Pons Racing On The Streets Of Monaco

The third round of the World Series by Renault took place this afternoon under cloudless skies in the legendary circuit of Monaco with the Formula Renault 3.5 teams scheduled as the main curtain-raiser to the Formula 1 race. The Pons Racing Team, however, suffered misfortune as both Federico Leo and Daniel Zampieri crashed out of the race at precisely the same spot on the circuit, the entrance onto the Casino Square.

Daniel Zampieri Credit: World Series By Renualt

The problems for Leo and Zampieri did in fact start on Saturday morning during qualification. Given the large number of cars and the characteristics of the tight Monaco track, the session was divided into two groups with the two Pons Racing drivers paired in the same group. During the 25 minute session neither Zampieri nor Leo could get into a good rhythm and in the end produced times that were only good enough for 13th and 21st position on the grid respectively.

With scarcely no possibility of moving up the field given the difficulties in overtaking at the Monaco track, Leo and Zampieri pinned their hopes on the retirement of other competitors to be able to score points. However, on lap 14 Zampieri who was sitting on the tail of the two Junior Lotus cars, made an error under braking into the Casino Square, the car lost traction in the rear, and crashed violently against the barriers marking the end of the race for the driver from Rome.

Leo had made up three places on his starting grid position when on lap 18 he span without damaging the car. Two laps later, however, when running in last place, he braked too late coming onto the Casino Square, lost control of his car and crashed out of the race in similar fashion. A sad end to a complicated weekend for Pons Racing

The World Series by Renault 2010 moves on to the Czech Republic where round 4 will be held on June 5th and 6th at the Brno Circuit.

"The car felt a lot better today in the race but I did not feel so good physically, I have a slight temperature. On lap 14 I braked too late and lost control of the car. It's a shame but we have to move on and look to the next race."

"All in all a difficult weekend altogether. On Thursday in Free Practice I could not get many laps in because of an accident early on in the session and this affected the whole weekend. In qualifying I lacked pace and could not qualify well. Today I lacked pace again. I hope things improve in Brno."

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