Formula Renault 3.5 Series: Oliver Rowland secured championship title

Oliver Rowland (Fortec Motorsports) secured the championship title in Formula Renault 3.5 Series after finishing 7th in Race 2 today at Circuit Bugatti Le Mans. Before the season finale at Jerez (17-18 October) his gap ahead of second placed Matthieu Vaxiviere (Lotus) is big enough that the Frenchman cannot reach him, so Rowland can start with the celebrations.

In today’s race Russian Egor Orudzhev (Arden Motorsport) scored his second victory of the season, ahead of Vaxiviere and Tio Ellinas (Strakka Racing). Orudzhev started 5th and jumped to 3rd in the opening lap, behind the polesitter Ellinas and Tom Dillmann (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin). Orudzhev made a good mandatory pit stop and returned to the leading position in front of Vaxiviere.

Vaxiviere made a very bad start from the front row and dropped to 7th place. He decided to run further when most of the drivers went to the pits. Vaxiviere made a few very fast laps and pitted last. His strategy was efficient and he returned to 2nd. In the closing laps he tried to overtake Orudzhev a few times, but the Russian defended from attacks and crossed the finish line as the winner.

Oliver Rowland had a bad qualifying session and started the race from 14th position. Before the pits he progressed to 11th and after changing the tires he gained three more places. Rowland crossed the finish line 8th in the order, but after seventh placed Nicolas Latifi (Arden Motorsport) was penalized, Rowland got more points at his championship standings account.