Oliver Rowland takes maiden FR3.5 win at Motorland

Oliver Rowland (Fortec Motorsports) has become the first rookie this season to win in the headliner category of the World Series by Renault. The protégé of the Racing Steps Foundation dominated  Sunday afternoon to take the win ahead of Pierre Gasly (Arden Motorsport) and Will Stevens (Strakka Racing), respective members of the Red Bull Junior Team and Caterham Racing Academy. After the weekend of action in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series at Motorland Aragón, Carlos Sainz Jr (DAMS) is the championship leader.Sunday morning, Oliver Rowland broke the string of pole wins of the DAMS team. The English newcomer put in a best time of 1:39.885 to take the top spot ahead of Pietro Fantin (International Draco Racing), Pierre Gasly, Will Stevens and Carlos Sainz Jr.

When the lights went out, Oliver Rowland and Pietro Fantin held position. Will Stevens slipped past Pierre Gasly for third place, while Sergey Sirotkin (Fortec Motorsports) picked up two positions to install himself in fifth place. Luca Ghiotto (International Draco Racing) and Nikolay Martsenko (Comtec Racing) saw their races come to a premature end.

On lap five, Carlos Sainz Jr. was first to make the mandatory pit stop. Pietro Fantin and Pierre Gasly came in on the following lap. The two members of the Red Bull Junior Team overtook the Brazilian before putting the pressure on Will Stevens, who made his stop on lap seven. Oliver Rowland made his stop on lap ten, while the field was animated by the different strategies of each driver.

Oliver Rowland added to his lead throughout the race and went on to score his maiden win in the category ahead of Pierre Gasly who overtook both Will Stevens and Carlos Sainz Jr. in the final two laps. Zoël Amberg (AVF) finished fifth, ahead of Roberto Merhi (Zeta Corse) and Marco Sørensen (Tech 1 Racing). Matthieu Vaxivière (Lotus), Jazeman Jaafar (ISR) and Norman Nato (DAMS) completed the top ten scoring positions.

Quotes

Oliver Rowland: ”I am pleased to have won. I started the race with high-downforce configuration to get the most from the DRS. I quickly felt comfortable to pick up the pace. I was a little nervous before the pit stop, as it was the first time in my career. But I had built a good lead and I was able to control the race.”

Pierre Gasly: ”It was a good race. The team did a fantastic job on the pit stops, which let me close in on Pietro Fantin. I got past him, before having a great battle with Carlos and Will. Carlos made a mistake, which gave me my only chance to get past him. After that, I used the DRS to attack Will on the final lap and it paid off!”

Will Stevens: ”I put in a very good start to move up to third place. The pace was rather good, but Carlos was faster. I didn’t think he would make a mistake, but in fact he did. On the final lap, I lost second place in a fine battle, but I am satisfied with this podium result after a difficult day yesterday.”

Provisional General Classification * : 1. C. Sainz Jr – 62 points, 2. O. Rowland – 49, 3. P. Gasly – 45, 4. W. Stevens – 40, 5. N. Martsenko – 36, …*Subject to confirmation of the results following the technical and sporting verifications.


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