Mikhail Aleshin heads for this weekend's
Donington Park World Series by Renault round aiming to build on the maiden pole position he secured last time out at the Nurburgring, and claim a first victory to help him on his road to
Formula One.
The Russian only made his debut in the World Series in 2006, graduating direct from the two-litre Formula Renault championship, but has quickly established himself at the head of the field, culminating in that pole position for race one in Germany. Aleshin finished third in that race, to add to an impressive, wing-less, second at Istanbul Park earlier in the year, and admits that his confidence is high.
"It was a very good qualifying session at the Nurburgring," he told
Crash.net Radio, "We knew that the car could win too, but there were a few problems at the start. However, after that weekend, I am sure that it is possible for me to win - and I am sure that we will win this year."
Aleshin admits that he had not expected to be so far up the field so soon after moving into the World Series, but confirms that his choice of team was a big factor in his development.
"It was hard to know whether I could be a frontrunner when I first got here, because we didn't know how fast I would adapt to the car," he explained, "We definitely didn't expect such good results, but going to a team like Carlin has helped enormously because they have so much experience. if I had come up with another team, I am sure that it wouldn't have been so good."
Aleshin is also grateful to his two main sponsors, Lukoil and
Red Bull, without whom he admits it would have been hard to make it as far as he has. Both companies added the Russian to their roster after watching his performances in the lower formulae, and Aleshin is hopeful that they will accompany him all the way to the top flight.
![Mikhail Aleshin - Carlin Motorsport [pic credit: Renault Sport media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/249812.jpg)
