This weekend there was the fifth appointment of the World Series by Renault 3.5 in the circuit of Moscow. Below, the note of the two races of the Draco Team, Draco Marketing partner.
Formula Renault 3.5 Round 5 – Race 1
Muller and Negrao in the points for Draco at Moscow Raceway
International Draco Racing finished in the top ten with both cars at Moscow Raceway, where the F.Renault 3.5 championship held the first race of this weekend. Doing so, the Italian team added important points to their season tally, keeping momentum after a positive first part of the season.
The team owned by Guto Negrao took the fifth row of the grid in qualifying, with Nico Muller posting the 9th quickest lap and André Negrao closing the session in P10.
In the race, their start was great and being so quick off the line they immediately made up some places. Unluckily, Moscow Raceway’s twisty layout made overtaking during the race too difficult, and Negrao and Muller didn’t manage to gain more positions, crossing the line in P6 and P7 respectively. Anyway, both the drivers showed an amazing pace, and this bodes well for tomorrow’s qualifying session and for the following race.
Andrè Negrao: Q1 – P10; R1 – P6
“I did my best in qualifying and made the most of the car’s performances, but our race pace was even better. I was quick at the start, but then racing in the middle of the pack through the first laps I realized how difficult is overtaking on this track. I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risk and I just tried to put a bit of pressure on Buller, but he didn’t make any mistake. Now we’ll try to improve our single lap performance for tomorrow’s qualifying”.
Nico Muller: Q1 – P9; R1 – P7
“In qualifying I had just one clear lap to post my time, but the car was missing something in terms of raw performance. Furthermore, on this track the grid was really tight packed and even little differences in laptime could bring you a lot forward or backwards. My getaway in the race was good, I passed three drivers on the straight, but then I was on the wrong side at the first corner and I had to let my team-mate André through. From then on there was nothing I could do apart from keeping my position”.
Formula Renault 3.5 Round 5 – Race 2
Draco again in the points 4th place for Muller, 6th spot for Negrao</b>
After the second race of the Moscow F.Renault 3.5 weekend, International Draco Racing climbed to third place in the Teams Standings. Today saw the team boast another great performance, as Nico Muller clinched a 4th place finish and André Negrao crossed the line in 6th, allowing the Italian team to bag a considerable amount of points. Drivers benefited from that too, as Muller is now fifth in the championship standings and Negrao climbed to P10.
The day had started well for the team owned by Guto Negrao, with a strong performance in the morning Qualifying: Muller posted the 4th quickest time and Negrao was 7th, but André was really disappointed after the session as the red flag was exposed when he had just posted the quickest time in S2, ruining his best lap. At the start of Race 2, Muller kept his position and tried to challenge for a podium finish, while Negrao managed to make up one place to P6. On a twisty track like Moscow Racing overtaking was nearly impossible and despite a good pace and a good pit-stop strategy the Draco drivers had to stick with P4 and P6, ending a satisfying weekend for the team.
Andrè Negrao: Q2 – P7; R2 – P6
“In qualifying the front row was just one tenth adrift. The red flag prevented me from taking the result I deserved, but that has nothing to do with us. The team did a great job and I tried to make the most of it, with a good start and a great overall performance. I believe that this can be a good starting point for a strong outing in Red Bull Ring, the series’ next event on July 21″.
Nico Muller: Q2 – P4; R2 – P4
“We really improved the car setup compared to yesterday: I got some more understeer, but the car was much more planted and I was free to push as much as I wanted. Unluckily on this track overtaking is something you can only dream of and later in the race we broke an exhaust too, but our pace was worth a podium finish”.