After Monza and the Nürburgring, the World Series Formula Renault 3.5 continues its tour of legendary circuits at Monaco. In a curtain-raiser to the 65th F1 Grand Prix, the 26 drivers who make it through qualifying will compete to win the most prestigious race of the year. Having won in 2005 and 2006 with Christian Montanari and Pastor Maldonado, the Draco Racing team start as favourites. But watch out for Clivio Piccione (RC Motorsport), who would dearly love to come out on top in front of his home fans…
With four different winners in as many races, the World Series 2007 is as wide open as in previous years. After Mikhail Aleshin and Salvador Duran at Monza, then Sebastian Vettel and Davide Valsecchi at the Nürburgring, another name could well be added to the list of winners in the Principality!
Vettel (Carlin Motorsport) leads the overall standings, ahead of Alvaro Parente (Tech 1 Racing) and Filipe Albuquerque (Epsilon Euskadi). All three men have scored points in every race in which they have competed. One thing is for sure: one of them will leave Monaco as championship leader!
Mikhail Aleshin (Carlin Motorsport), Ben Hanley (Prema Power Team) and Marco Bonanomi (RC Motorsport), who have been less consistent, are slightly off the pace. They will be looking to make up some ground before the seven-week break prior to the Hungaroring meeting.
Draco Racing's Milos Pavlovic and Alvaro Barba, will have exactly the same aim. Having shown excellent form in off-season testing, the Serbian and his Spanish teammate have struggled in the first few races. But they still have the ability to be really quick. Safe in the knowledge that their cars will have the perfect setup for this unique circuit, they will be aiming to extend the Tuscan team's unbeaten run in Monaco.
Of all the drivers who have made a disappointing start to the season, one in particular will be hungrier for success than the others. A native of Monaco, Clivio Piccione could go round his home circuit with his eyes closed. Since the beginning of the season, the RC Motorsport driver has regularly shown himself to be one of the quickest drivers in the competition. But three collisions in four races have denied him any reward for his efforts. Fourth in GP2 last year, he now wants to make it onto the podium, preferably the top step!
Another local driver, hailing from the Var region, Julien Jousse (Tech 1 Racing), has been one of the revelations of the early season. He will be looking to realize his potential with a good result at the legendary circuit.
Fairuz Fauzy (Cram Compétition), Guillaume Moreau, Bertrand Baguette (KTR), Giedo van der Garde and Charlie Kimball (Victory Engineering) have all arguably deserved at least one podium finish since the start of the championship. This could be their weekend…
Ruled out of the Nürburgring meeting by injury, Richard Philippe (Fortec Motorsport) should return to action in Monaco.
As in previous years, there will be a single race, with no mandatory pit stop. Following 45 minutes of collective testing on Thursday, qualifying will take place on Saturday morning. Only the best 26 drivers will qualify for the race, which is scheduled for an 11.15 a.m. start on Sunday.
N° Team (Home country) Drivers (Citizenship) Rookie
1 INTERWETTEN.COM (AUT) Salvador DURAN (MEX) R 2 INTERWETTEN.COM (AUT) Daniil MOVE (RUS) R 3 INTERNATIONAL DRACO RACING (ITA) Milos PAVLOVIC (SRB) 4 INTERNATIONAL DRACO RACING (ITA) Alvaro BARBA (ESP) 5 RED DEVIL TEAM COMTEC (GBR) Michael HERCK (BEL) R 6 RED DEVIL TEAM COMTEC (GBR) Alejandro NUÑEZ (ESP) R 7 CARLIN MOTORSPORT (GBR) Mikhail ALESHIN (RUS) 8 CARLIN MOTORSPORT (GBR) Sebastian VETTEL (GER) 9 RC MOTORSPORT (ITA) Clivio PICCIONE (MON) R 10 RC MOTORSPORT (ITA) Marco BONANOMI (ITA) 11 VICTORY ENGINEERING (ITA) Giedo Van Der GARDE (NED) R 12 VICTORY ENGINEERING (ITA) Charlie KIMBALL (USA) R 14 KTR (BEL) Guillaume MOREAU (FRA) R 15 KTR (BEL) Bertrand BAGUETTE (BEL) R 16 PREMA POWERTEAM (ITA) Xavier MAASSEN (NED) R 18 PREMA POWERTEAM (ITA) Ben HANLEY (GBR) 19 CRAM COMPETITION (ITA) Fairuz FAUZY (MAS) R 20 CRAM COMPETITION (ITA) Pippa MANN (GBR) R 21 EPSILON EUSKADI (ESP) Filipe ALBUQUERQUE (POR) R 22 EPSILON EUSKADI (ESP) Davide VALSECCHI (ITA) 23 PONS RACING (ESP) Miguel MOLINA (ESP) 24 PONS RACING (ESP) Carlos IACONELLI (BRA) 25 EUROINTERNATIONAL (ITA) Celso MIGUEZ (ESP) 26 EUROINTERNATIONAL (ITA) Alessandro CIOMPI (ITA) R 27 GD RACING (ITA Ricardo RISATTI (ARG) R 28 GD RACING (ITA Pasquale di SABATINO (ITA) 29 FORTEC MOTORSPORT (GBR) James WALKER (GBR) R 30 FORTEC MOTORSPORT (GBR) Richard PHILIPPE (FRA) R 31 TECH 1 RACING (FRA Julien JOUSSE (FRA) R 32 TECH 1 RACING (FRA Alvaro PARENTE (POR)
