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Red Bull Ring FR3.5: Matthieu Vaxiviere takes race two victory

Lotus Formula 1 junior Matthieu Vaxiviere recorded a long-anticipated third win of the season in the second Formula Renault 3.5 race at the Red Bull Ring

The French racer made up for the disappointment of a tough opener on Sunday morning, in which he dropped a position and sustained minor damage in contact, to recoup a handful of points over title rival and race one victor Oliver Rowland.

Poleman Vaxiviere and Fortec charge Rowland spent a large portion of the opening lap running wheel to wheel in a thrilling battle, but the Limoges ace skilfully defended his position and subsequently opened out a four second margin of victory.

"I am happy to the win, but looking at the whole of the day I am not so happy as we struggled in race one a bit running the medium downforce," said Vaxiviere.

"In this race we chose the high downforce and I was able to manage the gap to Ollie.

"The races in September after the summer break will be the most important phase of the championship, so we have to keep focus on that."

European Formula 3 graduate Roy Nissany claimed a fine maiden podium in the series.

The Hungarian-raised Israeli had qualified an excellent fifth, and in line with the majority of the field was promoted a grid position following front row qualifier Roberto Merhi's exclusion after a controversial race one.

Nissany moved ahead of McLaren protege Nyck de Vries on the opening lap and produced strong race pace to maintain third position throughout.

De Vries lost fourth to Draco's third year racer Pietro Fantin after suffering a lock-up and running wide at Turn 2 seven laps from home.

The race became spread out in the closing laps, and Fantin's charge through the order from tenth on the grid was one of few highlights.

Status GP2 driver Marlon Stockinger completed the top-six on a guest appearance for his former team Lotus.

Race one runner-up Dean Stoneman retired in an opening lap accident with Arden racer Nicholas Latifi.

The Canadian's accident was a tough blow for his hard working crew, who had endured a race against time to ready Latifi's car following a huge crash with Merhi in race one.

RESULTS - 31 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Matthieu Vaxiviere Lotus 41m48.906s
2 Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 4.151s
3 Roy Nissany Tech 1 Racing 20.244s
4 Pietro Fantin International Draco Racing 25.199s
5 Nyck de Vries DAMS 28.905s
6 Marlon Stockinger Lotus 41.105s
7 Gustav Malja Strakka Racing 42.152s
8 Tom Dillmann Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 45.782s
9 Jazeman Jaafar Fortec Motorsports 47.644s
10 Beitske Visser AVF 55.380s
11 Bruno Bonifacio International Draco Racing 1m02.851s
12 Alfonso Celis AVF 1m07.019s
13 Tio Ellinas Strakka Racing 1 Lap
- Egor Orudzhev Arden Motorsport Retirement
- Meindert van Buuren Pons Racing Retirement
- Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Retirement
- Aurelien Panis Tech 1 Racing Retirement
- Dean Stoneman DAMS Retirement
- Nicholas Latifi Arden Motorsport Retirement
- Louis Deletraz Comtec Racing Retirement
- Roberto Merhi Pons Racing Disqualified

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Oliver Rowland 166
2 Matthieu Vaxiviere 140
3 Jazeman Jaafar 90
4 Dean Stoneman 86
5 Nyck de Vries 71
6 Tom Dillmann 69
7 Egor Orudzhev 40
8 Tio Ellinas 38
9 Pietro Fantin 38
10 Gustav Malja 33
11 Nicholas Latifi 28
12 Roberto Merhi 26
13 Aurelien Panis 22
14 Meindert van Buuren 20
15 Roy Nissany 19
16 Marlon Stockinger 8
17 Alfonso Celis 4
18 Sean Gelael 4
19 Beitske Visser 3
20 Alex Fontana 2
21 Bruno Bonifacio 1
22 Philo Paz Armand 1



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