Roberto Merhi claimed his first Formula Renault 3.5 Series victory after leading from start to finish in the second race at the Moscow Raceway.
Merhi started from pole position and pulled away from his rivals to claim a comfortable win for Zeta Corse and the Spaniard’s first in single seaters since 2011.
Red Bull young driver Pierre Gasly bounced back from a difficult first race to finish second, ahead of Lotus driver Richie Stanaway, filling in for the injured Mathieu Vaxivière.
Gasly jumped ahead of front-row starter Stanaway when the lights went out but the Kiwi attempted to go around the outside of his rival at the final corner. Gasly edged Stanaway onto the tarmac run-off and they retained their positions for the remainder of the race.
Race 1 winner Sergey Sirotkin was fourth for Fortec Motorsport, a couple of seconds ahead of team-mate Oliver Rowland.
Championship leader Carlos Sainz Jr. recovered from a lowly grid slot to take sixth, ahead of Mathias Laine.
Zoël Amberg pipped Will Stevens to eighth position, while William Buller rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Despite a challenging weekend for Red Bull youngster Sainz Jr., he leaves Russia with 132 points, 33 clear of nearest rival Gasly.
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
