Pic secures top-10 finish in Monaco

Arthur Pic emerged from a challenging weekend on the world-famous streets of Monte Carlo with a top-10 finish in Sunday's Formula Renault 3.5 race.

Arthur Pic

Photo by: Renault Sport

The Spanish outfit coped admirably however, providing Pic with a car capable of competing for a top-10 finish throughout the weekend.

Due to the tight nature of the circuit, qualifying was split into two groups. Pic ran in the first session, securing the sixth best lap time and with it 12th on the grid. With overtaking extremely difficult on the Monte Carlo streets Pic knew that a good start would be key to securing a points-paying finish.

Here the 21-year-old played his part perfectly, producing a textbook getaway to climb to 10th spot on the opening tour.

From there Pic comfortably held off the perusing Oliver Webb but was unable to make an attempt on ninth-placed Stoffel Vandoorne, despite applying pressure to the Belgian. With no mandatory pit-stop the chance of jumping his competitors through strategy was also ruled out, leaving the AV Formula driver to come home in P10.

The result secured Pic a single championship point, boosting his total to 36 and leaving him sixth in the ultra-competitive single-seater series. The Frenchman and his team will have little time to relax ahead of their next Formula Renault 3.5 encounter, which takes place this weekend (June 1/2) at Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Arthur Pic: “We didn't have great pace in qualifying as it was colder than free practice and our setup didn't suit the conditions. I feel I could have been P3 or P4 in my group, but we weren’t able to challenge the fastest guys. The order seemed to have been shaken up this weekend, with the usual front-runners struggling and some different names at the top.

“The car was a lot better in the race. I got a good start to move into 10th but from there I couldn't make a pass and remained in the same position to the finish. Obviously it's frustrating, but from P12 the main objective was to score points and we achieved that.

“Though I'm a little disappointed with the weekend I feel I did a good job and have no regrets. This week I'll be going to Paris to do some simulator work and then we're back in action at Spa just a few days later. It's the complete opposite of Monaco as the circuit is extremely fast, so we'll look to bring home strong points from both races.”

Arthur Pic