Australian Will Power drove the famous streets of Monaco for the first time when the World Series by Renault supported the Formula One World Championship at the prestigious event this weekend.
The weekend got off to a rocky start when the Carlin Motorsport driver experienced gear box problems in Thursdays 40 minute free practice session and was in the pits when a three car incident at turn two badly hurt a marshal. Four drivers were penalised as a result of the incident and Will’s team mate Andreas Zuber, was excluded from the weekend when he was deemed to have passed too fast under yellow flags.
Qualifying was again split into two sessions to solve traffic congestion and Will’s even-numbered group was first out on the sunny Saturday morning.ÿ Will set the pace straight away and was on provisional pole when a red-flag stopped the session mid way.ÿ At the re-start the number 4 car slightly nudged the wall on the penultimate turn which unfortunately bent the left rear wishbone enough to unbalance the car.
Power pushed through the session and managed to better his time, but it was a struggle and he ultimately finished 7th with a lap of 1min26.4sec. However, with the second qualifying group being the faster of the two, Will was relegated down the grid to 14th place.
Sunday morning and the World Series race was to follow the final F1 qualifying session where fellow Aussie and supporter, Mark Webber qualified (and later finished) third!ÿ Power took his P14 grid position and made a clean start, holding his place throughout the first part of the 25 lap sprint race. A collision on lap 7, and another on lap 11, promoted Will up two places to 12th which is where he ultimately crossed the line.
“I just wanted to finish the race, which was always the aim after the problem in qualifying.” Will explained.ÿ “It’s difficult to pass around Monaco unless someone makes a mistake or is much slower than you.ÿ I’m disappointed about not getting any points but I really enjoyed the experience and now know the track well.”
The next World Series race will take place at the Valencia circuit in two weeks time.
