GP2 leader Oliver Rowland says improvements needed to go for title
New GP2 Series leader Oliver Rowland says improvements will be needed if he can keep up his title challenge
Two podium finishes last weekend at Silverstone pushed the Racing Steps Foundation-backed Briton to the top of the standings, even though he has yet to win a race with the Dutch-owned MP Motorsport squad.
"So far it's been pretty good - we've been consistent, not made mistakes, and it was only in race two at Baku that we were a bit unlucky," he told Autosport.
"But we do need to improve in terms of qualifying if we want to challenge for the championship.
"Having said that, each race we've improved more than anyone, and we've shown a massive rate of development.
"There's no reason why we can't push for the title, but we have to keep improving to have a sustained go at winning it."
After winning the Formula Renault 3.5 crown last season, Rowland tested with ART, DAMS and Prema in GP2, but those doors closed and he returned to MP, with which he made his GP2 debut at Silverstone last year.
He therefore resumed his relationship with husband-and-wife engineering team Tony and Sarah Shaw, the former bosses of the Manor Competition Formula Renault 2.0 squad before they closed it down at the end of 2011 and formed a tie-up with MP's FR2.0 team.
As Manor MP Motorsport they ran Rowland to runner-up in the 2013 FR2.0 Eurocup, before they moved onto the GP2 squad at the end of that season.
"I knew the people, and that makes a big difference," said Rowland, who is also now part of the Renault Formula 1 team's academy programme.
"GP2 has the best engineers and drivers outside F1, but there's no reason with their ability why we can't win the championship.
"We've just got to learn in terms of arriving at a track and getting on it straight away."
Rowland is also not concerned that he has been scuppered even in his bid to win reversed-grid races.
Compatriot Jordan King has won twice from poles earned from finishing eighth in feature races, while Rowland has yet to start on the front row on a reversed grid.
"I think it works both ways," he said.
"The good thing is that we got podiums in both races at Silverstone - I worked into a position to catch Jordan, but we didn't have the pace.
"The only time it gets a bit frustrating is somewhere like Monaco."
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