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Formula Renault 3.5 championship contender Roberto Merhi could race without a team-mate at the next round at Paul Ricard.

Merhi's regular team-mate at Zeta Corse, Roman Mavlanov, has decided to skip the French round of the series to prioritise the GT Open race at Monza, as he is in contention for the title.

Mavlanov will return to Zeta's FR3.5 line-up for the season finale at Jerez, but the Russian-owned team has been in discussions with drivers about a one-off deal to fill the vacant seat on September 27-28.

Head of Zeta, Roman Novikov told AUTOSPORT: "At the moment we have only one driver for Paul Ricard.

"We have spoken with a few drivers but we have not managed to do a deal yet. We cannot give away the seat for free.

"It's not like we are desperate and in a rush. If we cannot find a driver we will run one car at Paul Ricard."

Unlike in some series, FR3.5's championship regulations do not punish teams for failing to field two cars at a race.

Merhi, who drove in Formula 1 free practice for Caterham at Monza, has been the series' in-form driver in recent rounds, picking up three wins and slashing Carlos Sainz Jr's points lead to just 16 following last weekend's Hungaroring event.

The Spaniard, who has come back to single-seaters this year after two years in the DTM with Mercedes, praised Zeta's performance this season.

"The team's approach is a really good thing," Merhi told AUTOSPORT. "They are always open to change.

"They are always pushing and they do what I want. They want to do well, and I can fight for wins so they listen to me.

"Sometimes in a team you say something and they don't care, they just do whatever they think is right.

"Zeta has had some bad experience in the past, but we have improved a lot and it looks pretty good at the moment."

