The World Series by Renault will be making another small step to fulfil its global moniker this weekend, as the championship heads east to the Istanbul Park Circuit in Turkey for the first time.
It is the first time the series has ventured outside of Europe since 2002 when its forerunning championship, the Nissan World Series, completed four races in Brazil. However, it will be the only race on the calendar this season that will head further east than Germany and, crucially, it will also be the first time that most of the drivers will have seen the circuit, opened in 2005 for the inaugural
Formula One Turkish Grand Prix.
Leading the way remains Eric Salignon, although his double victory at the season-opener in Belgium was cancelled out by a torrid meeting in Monaco, where the Frenchman failed to qualify in the top twenty and then went on to finish well out of the points in the single race.
As a result, he goes to Turkey sharing the championship lead with Monaco victor Pastor Maldonado, the Venezuelan claiming his maiden World Series victory around the twists and turns of the blue riband race. Indeed, now the only driver to have scored points in all the three races so far, the Draco Multiracing USA driver is now brimming with confidence and has already stated his intentions to go on and take the title.
Another driver to have missed out on a golden opportunity to build on a solid start to the season was third-placed Borja Garcia, the Spaniard failing to even make the Monaco grid when mechanical problems prevented him from making the cut. However, while the majority of the field will be racing in Turkey for the first time, Garcia will be able to use his GP2 experience to his advantage. On top of that, the RC Motorsport man was a podium visitor too when he raced there with Racing Engineering last year.
