Aleshin flies at Oschersleben
Red Bull-backed racer recovers from opening lap drama
Mikhail Aleshin came back from an opening lap incident to score
an impressive fifth place during race one at Oschersleben today
(Saturday).
Starting from tenth on the grid, Mikhail got a great start
on the run down to turn one for the first time. Tobias Hegewald
then made contact with Robert Wickens in front of a gaggle of cars,
which included Aleshin. Carlos Iaconelli got his wheels caught up
with the Russian and he was briefly fired into
the air. Amazingly, Aleshin was able to return to the circuit
in ninth place.
"I was pretty lucky," said Mikhail. "I had nowhere to go and was
hit from behind. My steering was bent for the rest of the race, but
it wasn't too bad at first."
In a stunning display, Aleshin made his way up to fifth place
following the restart until the steering problems halted his
progress. He came under pressure from De Marco in the later
stages, but he clung on to a well earned top five finish.
"It was a pretty good result in the end," noted Aleshin. "I
have to be happy as it could have been a lot worse. I had to turn
the steering wheel on the main straight to keep the
car going in a straight line!"
The race followed a successful morning for the 22-year-old, as
he secured his maiden pole during second qualifying. Having seen
Soucek dominate from the front during today's race, Aleshin will be
hoping to do the same tomorrow. "My team and I have done a lot of
work and this is the result," concluded the Russian. "Now I
hope to keep the position for the race!"
Aleshin will start on pole for race two tomorrow, which gets
underway at 1:50pm local time. The race will be broadscast live on
Eurosport International and on formulatwo.com. British Eurosport
will air delayed live coverage at 4:05pm (UK time).