Share this article on LinkedIn Email

Roberto Merhi converted his maiden pole position into a dominant first Formula Renault 3.5 victory at Moscow Raceway.

The ex-Mercedes DTM racer put in a storming opening couple of laps to drive away from the chasing pack, and from there he managed the gap until the first pitstops.

He lost nearly three seconds during the stops to the chasing Pierre Gasly, allowing the Frenchman to close to just over a second adrift of the leader.

However, Merhi then set about pulling away with ease for the rest of the race, crossing the line nearly seven seconds clear of the Red Bull junior, giving his Russian-owned Zeta team a 'home' win.

Arden driver Gasly had pinched second from a slow-starting Richie Stanaway when the lights went out, as the Lotus driver moved to the inside to block an attack from Oliver Rowland.

Stanaway attacked Gasly on the outside into the final corner on the opening lap, but the Red Bull junior ran him out of road on the exit and was never threatened again from there.

The Kiwi's fierce defence at the start had Rowland enough to allow race one winner Sergey Sirotkin to pass him for fourth into Turn 2, and the Briton could do nothing about his Fortec team-mate for the remainder of the race.

There was more bad news for Rowland as after the pitstops were complete he had championship leader Carlos Sainz Jr in his mirrors.

The Spaniard made up a couple of places from 11th on the grid at the start, and he took advantage of an early pitstop to climb up to sixth, minimising the damage inflicted by Gasly and Rowland in the title race.

Results - 30 laps: Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Roberto Merhi Zeta 41m58.433s 2. Pierre Gasly Arden +6.748s 3. Richie Stanaway Lotus +11.549s 4. Sergey Sirotkin Fortec +16.428s 5. Oliver Rowland Fortec +18.960s 6. Carlos Sainz Jr DAMS +26.171s 7. Matias Laine Strakka +26.962s 8. Zoel Amberg AVF +29.092s 9. Will Stevens Strakka +29.647s 10. Will Buller Arden +32.634s 11. Marlon Stockinger Lotus +34.778s 12. Meindert van Buuren Pons +43.468s 13. Jazeman Jaafar ISR +46.598s 14. Beitske Visser AVF +53.111s 15. Luca Ghiotto Draco +53.793s 16. Marco Sorensen Tech 1 +54.150s 17. Norman Nato DAMS +54.697s 18. Oscar Tunjo Pons +57.004s Retirements: Roman Mavlanov Zeta 18 laps Pietro Fantin Draco 14 laps