Aragon FR3.5: Oliver Rowland takes dominant maiden win in race two
Oliver Rowland took a dominant maiden Formula Renault 3.5 victory in the second race of the weekend at Aragon
The Briton controlled the race from the start, charging into a comfortable lead from pole position as front row starter Pietro Fantin struggled to keep up.
Fantin would eventually slide down the order, leaving Will Stevens, championship leader Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly to spend the second half of the race disputing the remaining two spots on the podium.
Stevens led the way in that fight until the final lap, with both Gasly and Sainz making errors while attacking him earlier on.
Gasly's first challenge at Turn 1 resulted in him running wide and handing third to Sainz on lap 10, but the Spaniard was unable to get close enough to Stevens to make a move of his own as he was running less downforce than those around him.
Eventually, Sainz locked up at the final hairpin three laps from the end, freeing up Gasly to make another challenge as Stevens struggled for pace.
The Frenchman got ahead on the final lap down the long backstraight, and while Stevens tried to fight back on the outside he was powerless to prevent the pass.
Sainz, nursing a flat-spotted left front tyre, attacked Stevens on the run to the chequered flag, but he ran wide through the final kink, rejoining the circuit just ahead of fifth-placed Zoel Amberg.
Roberto Merhi completed the top six, picking his way through the midfield from 14th on the grid, and surviving a bump with Sergey Sirotkin at Turn 1 as the pair passed the struggling Fantin.
That was one of several incidents or problems to affect Sirotkin's race, and his troubled afternoon eventually came to an end when he pitted with rear suspension damage in the closing stages.
Results - 24 laps Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Oliver Rowland Fortec 41m44.385s 2. Pierre Gasly Arden +13.770s 3. Will Stevens Strakka +14.764s 4. Carlos Sainz Jr. DAMS +14.916s 5. Zoel Amberg AVF +15.228s 6. Roberto Merhi Zeta Corse +16.296s 7. Marco Sorensen Tech 1 +17.337s 8. Matthieu Vaxiviere Lotus +19.236s 9. Jazeman Jaafar ISR +24.481s 10. Norman Nato DAMS +28.141s 11. Meindert van Buuren Pons +34.736s 12. Pietro Fantin Draco +35.705s 13. Oliver Webb Pons +37.511s 14. Matias Laine Strakka +42.182s 15. Roman Mavlanov Zeta Corse +49.201s 16. Beitske Visser AVF +50.925s Retirements/not classified Sergey Sirotkin Fortec 19 laps William Buller Arden 12 laps Marlon Stockinger Lotus 12 laps Luca Ghiotto Draco 0 laps Nikolay Martsenko Comtec 0 laps
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