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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