Manor MP Motorsports Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 racer Oliver Rowland bagged a richly deserved triple podium result at Hockenheim over the weekend, 6th/7th April, during a guest outing in the season-opening Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (NEC) encounter.
Although focusing on the blue riband Eurocup series this year with its Formula Renault squad, the team took the opportunity to field Rowland and Argentinian team-mate Javier Merlo in the opening three rounds of the NEC season to gain some vital experience.
Rowland was, unsurprisingly, in sensational form and although qualifying wasnt quite as he or the team had hoped, the young Briton starred in race conditions with third place in race one and second in the two subsequent encounters all from much lower than expected grid positions.
In round one on Saturday, the Racing Steps Foundation-backed driver brilliantly fought his way through from an uncharacteristic 10th on the grid. Scything his way through into fifth place on lap one alone, Rowland grabbed fourth on lap seven before capping his remarkable performance by taking third position five laps from the end.
The first of Sundays two races required a similarly committed and skilful performance and the 2011 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award Winner didnt disappoint, moving into the top six from eighth on the grid at the start before the action fell under Safety Car conditions.
At the re-start on lap six, Rowland sat ready to pounce behind the two cars ahead and made quick work of both to leap into third place also setting the fastest lap in the process. Building further on his sensational re-start, the Manor MP ace then sliced his way through into second on lap seven and closed down race leader Jake Dennis before the finish, the pair trading fastest laps to the end.
Round three delivered more of the same from the Manor MP Motorsport star, moving up from fourth to third on the opening lap he grabbed second on lap two and proceeded to pressurise race leader Andrea Pizzitola. Closing to within 0.8 seconds on lap seven, Rowland just couldnt manage to find a way past and settled for second and another superb podium result
Ollie did a fantastic job this weekend, three podiums from three races is great and a really good start to the year, said Manor MPs Sarah Shaw, Qualifying didnt work out how we wanted it to, there were a lot of cars out there so traffic was a problem and it meant Ollie wasnt where he should have been on the grid for any of the races.
It made things tough for him but he did a great job to fight through so well, were really delighted with his performances this weekend. If he had been where he should have been, on the first two rows of the grid, we could have probably had some wins this weekend.
Argentinian racer Merlo faced a big learning curve on his debut weekend in European racing but made significant progress throughout. In race one, the South American made huge gains to climb from 33rd on the grid into 19th position by the finish. Up into 25th on lap one, Merlo edged closer and closer to the top 20 and was as high as 18th but slipped back to 19th four laps from the conclusion.
In race two, Merlo again had a mountain to climb from 33rd place but he gained a remarkable 11 positions on the opening lap prior to the emergence of the Safety Car. At the resumption progress wasnt as rapid, of course, but he worked his way into the top 20 again to cap another strong drive.
Round three brought the 2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Argentina Champion his third top 20 finish of the weekend. Starting in 19th place, Merlo became embroiled in a race-long see-saw battle for position and eventually took the chequered flag in 20th position.
Javier is making a big step up this year and qualifying was tough for him too, but hes done a good job this weekend and to make up so many places in races one and two was great, added Shaw, Hes shown good potential this weekend and hes certain to improve as the season goes on.
Motorland Aragon in Spain will host the opening two rounds of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season on 27th/28th April.
