Rookies rock in the Principality!

With Charles Pic in 2008, Oliver Turvey in 2009, Daniel Ricciardo in 2010, that makes three Rookie wins in a row on the streets of Monaco! As they look forward to competing in the curtain raiser event preceding the most glamorous F1 Grand Prix of the season, twenty-six drivers in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series are all dreaming of a prestigious win here to treasure for ever. Meanwhile Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo will be bidding to become the first ever driver to win twice at Monaco in Formula Renault 3.5 Series.

Monaco is a unique event, a race like no other, and every race driver, in whatever discipline, wants a win here at least once in their career, to cherish among their list of triumphs and trophies. The circuit is atypical, where it takes special skill and dexterity to be as quick as possible and defy the rails, making the Monaco Grand Prix the ideal place to turn heads. With the cream of the Formula 1 world looking on, the winner of this race is sure to be in the lime light.

For the last three years, victory in this event has systematically gone to a rookie. Carlos Ghosn was there in person to congratulate Charles Pic at the finish in 2008, while the emotion of Oliver Turvey after his triumph in 2009 remains a vivid memory, as does Daniel Ricciardo’s first win in the discipline in 2010, just hours before another Australian driver flying Red Bull Racing colours, his car also powered by a Renault engine, drove to victory in the F1 Grand Prix. All these races here will remain as vignettes in the long history associating Renault and Monaco.

Alexander Rossi (Fortec Motorsports), Kevin Korjus (Tech 1 Racing) and Cesar Ramos (Fortec Motorsports) are for the time being the most prominent rookies this season. In the Principality where betting is king, one of these three drivers could make the punters very happy. Having said that, after six races, the statistics are making predictions hazardous, with five different drivers having taken a win, nine with at least one podium finish and twenty-two already in the points!
 
Jean-Eric Vergne (Carlin) will arrive in Monte Carlo as championship leader. With a seventeen point gap over Alexander Rossi, the Frenchman will have to choose his trade-off between going all out for the win and securing important points. Alexander Rossi, who impressed on this street circuit at his first outing in Formula Renault 3.5 Series last season, will need to contain the challenges from Robert Wickens (Carlin) and Albert Costa (Epic Racing). The Canadian will want to redeem himself after what turned out to be a fruitless and points-less exercise in Italy. For Albert Costa, who has been very consistent since the beginning of the year, this would be the ideal place to claim his first win in the discipline and get some of the pressure off his shoulders in his quest for the title.

Daniel Ricciardo goes to Monaco with a unique challenge as he tries to win here for the second consecutive time in Formula Renault 3.5 Series, while taking on F1 duties all in the same weekend! On Thursday morning, the Australian will be behind the wheel of the team ISR car before switching to a Toro Rosso STR6 seat for the first free practice session in Formula 1. He’ll be back onboard his Formula Renault 3.5 for qualifying and the all-important single race on the programme, on Sunday, May 29 at 11:10 am.

The weekend will also be a big moment for Stéphane Richelmi (International Draco Racing). The Monegasque driver, runner-up in Italian Formula 3 in 2010, will be racing a single-seater through the streets of his hometown for the first time. Like Louis Chiron back in the early days, and Olivier Beretta, Stéphane Ortelli, Clivio Piccione and Stefano Coletti more recently, Stéphane Richelmi will get to taste the very special joy of racing through the streets of his childhood at nearly 300kph!

With Monaco often a favoured venue for the rookies, one young driver will be making his debut in Formula Renault 3.5 Series in the principality. Adrien Tambay, who has been outstanding in several single-seat disciplines in recent seasons, will be teaming up with Pons Racing in Monaco and driving alongside Oliver Webb. Driving for Gravity Academy like Kevin Korjus, he will be anxious to shine in his first race in Formula Renault 3.5 Series and emulate the Estonian driver, who has already won two races in his first season in the discipline.