Under an overcast sky, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series competitors climbed the time sheets for 30 minutes with the ambition of setting the fastest time. Norman Nato (DAMS) stood out as the man to beat at the beginning of the session, before seeing Sergey Sirotkin and Zoel Amberg (AVF) take the upper hand at the end of the first qualifying session.

Shod with new tyres, the drivers took to the track again for the final ten minutes. Sergey Sirotkin took top position with three minutes of the session remaining, breaking the timing beam with a 1’20’’992 lap. The only driver to break under the 1.21” barrier, his time was fast enough to secure him pole position in front of Pierre Gasly, Zoel Amberg, Pietro Fantin (International Draco Racing) and Oliver Rowland (Fortec Motorsports).

The lights go out for Formula Renault 3.5 Series Race 1 at Moscow Raceway at 14:30 local time.

Sergey Sirotkin: “It’s an incredible feeling to secure pole position, even more so in front of my home crowd, but this is just the beginning. It’s very difficult to overtake on this circuit, so I hope that we won’t be affected by any issues and will be able to do our job: to win this afternoon then start again tomorrow.”