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Jerez Formula Renault 3.5: Oliver Rowland dominates finale

Oliver Rowland took a dominant victory in the final race of the Formula Renault 3.5 season at Jerez, while Pierre Gasly moved up to second in the championship

After polesitter Roberto Merhi was relegated to third on the grid for holding up another car in qualifying, Rowland moved up to pole position and controlled the race from the off.

He held off a fast-starting Gasly for the lead into Turn 1, and the Frenchman's threat evaporated when he was delayed in his pitstop at the start of lap nine.

While Rowland extended his lead, Gasly rejoined behind Will Buller and Nicholas Latifi.

A mid-race safety car closed the pack up, but Rowland cruised away again at the restart, and Latifi edged past Buller with a move through Turns 1 and 2.

Buller then fought hard to keep team-mate Gasly at bay, but the Frenchman didn't need to take too many risks as he was on course to steal second in the championship from the unfortunate Merhi.

The Spaniard had been chasing Rowland and Gasly in the first stint, but his car stalled during his pitstop and the Zeta team struggled to get it to start up again.

Merhi did rejoin for a lap, but his Dallara was stuck on its rev limiter and he returned slowly to the pits to retire.

When he pulled into the garage his car caught fire, but it was dealt with swiftly by the marshals.

Newly-crowned champion Carlos Sainz Jr had another tough day, narrowly missing out on the points.

The Red Bull junior started 14th, and in the closing laps he attacked DAMS team-mate Norman Nato hard for 10th place without success.

RESULTS - 26 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 42m09.126s
2 Nicholas Latifi Tech 1 Racing 7.703s
3 William Buller Arden Motorsport 15.879s
4 Pierre Gasly Arden Motorsport 16.608s
5 Sergey Sirotkin Fortec Motorsports 18.752s
6 Pietro Fantin International Draco Racing 21.269s
7 Oscar Tunjo Pons Racing 21.730s
8 Matthieu Vaxiviere Lotus 22.349s
9 Marlon Stockinger Lotus 22.751s
10 Norman Nato DAMS 24.573s
11 Carlos Sainz Jr. DAMS 25.243s
12 Beitske Visser AVF 28.250s
13 Will Stevens Strakka Racing 29.809s
14 Zoel Amberg AVF 30.363s
15 Meindert van Buuren Pons Racing 31.146s
- Jazeman Jaafar ISR Retirement
- Matias Laine Strakka Racing Retirement
- Marco Sorensen Tech 1 Racing Retirement
- Roberto Merhi Zeta Corse Retirement
- Roman Mavlanov Zeta Corse Retirement
- Luca Ghiotto International Draco Racing Retirement

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Carlos Sainz Jr. 227
2 Pierre Gasly 192
3 Roberto Merhi 183
4 Oliver Rowland 181
5 Sergey Sirotkin 132
6 Will Stevens 122
7 Norman Nato 89
8 Matthieu Vaxiviere 83
9 Marlon Stockinger 73
10 Jazeman Jaafar 73


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