Arthur Pic endured a frustrating Formula Renault 3.5 weekend in Russia where a pair of trying races saw him unable to salvage points.
Representing the fifth round of the season, the Moscow Raceway event started positively for Pic, who registered the 11th best time in both of Fridays free practice sessions without running new tyres, leaving him confident of breaking into the top-10.
Saturdays qualifying saw the AV Formula driver set a best lap of 1m20.967s to take 12th on the grid, just two tenths shy of third spot, though the Frenchman and his team felt a better starting position was possible.
A grid penalty for Kevin Magnussen moved Pic up to 11th and he held station during a frantic opening lap. Slipping behind the Dane at mid-distance, he then struggled for pace and remained in P12 to the chequered flag.
Pics hopes of fighting back in Sundays second race were severely compromised when technical issues in qualifying relegated the AV Formula machine to 23rd on the grid. Given the short, twisty nature of the Moscow circuit this left him with a huge task to secure points.
However he was able to make early progress, producing a great start to climb to 17th spot on the opening lap and then working his way into 15th.
Unfortunately the Frenchman was shuffled back two places during the pit-stop phase, dropping him to P17. Now part of a close-fought six-car battle, he picked up a further position on his way to 16th at the flag.
Pic will hope for better results at the next Formula Renault 3.5 event, which takes place at Austria's Red Bull Ring over the weekend of July 20/21.
Arthur Pic: Russia proved to be very tough for us despite having started well on Friday. We'd been competitive in practice and felt confident for Saturday, but then the pace just seemed to vanish and we're not sure why.
On Sunday we suffered a gearbox problem which left me 23rd on the grid. I had a good first lap, making up several places, but once I reached the midfield it was difficult to overtake. Again, the pace just wasn't there. It's very frustrating, and we now need to look into what happened for us to lose performance like that.
We've also got to think positively and look forward to the next event at the Red Bull Ring. I've not raced there before, but Ive run some laps in the simulator and will be doing more next week. I like the look of it: there are lot of fast corners and it should be good fun. Hopefully we can be back on the pace and competing at the front there.
