Photo: Florent Gooden / DPPI
Fortec’s Oliver Rowland claimed his first pole position of the 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 season in a close Sunday qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Brit edged Tio Ellinas by less than a tenth at the checkered flag.
It was, indeed, Rowland who led the field at halfway point when the field all came in for a tyre change, with teammate Jazeman Jaafar propping up a provisional Fortec 1-2.
With the drivers improving en masse after returning to the track on new rubber, Rowland was shuffled down the order as Ellinas took the lead off Nyck de Vries with a minute to go, seemingly for good.
But Rowland was among the few to improve after the checkered flag flew and did just enough to deny the Cypriot a maiden pole in the category.
De Vries and points leader Jaafar will make up row two, with Saturday winner Matthieu Vaxiviere leading Red Bull junior Dean Stoneman on row three.
Nicholas Latifi followed yesterday’s front row with another strong qualifying outing in seventh, while Tom Dillmann, Egor Orudzhev and Pietro Fantin completed the top ten.
Having missed yesterday’s race after losing second on the grid, AVF’s Beitske Visser was back on track and qualified 14th.
The sole red flag of the session was brought out by Pons Racing’s Patric Armand early on.
Qualifying results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Oliver Rowland | Fortec Motorsports | 1:59.092 | 11 | |
| 2 | Tio Ellinas | Strakka Racing | 1:59.154 | 0.062 | 12 |
| 3 | Nyck de Vries | DAMS | 1:59.310 | 0.218 | 13 |
| 4 | Jazeman Jaafar | Fortec Motorsports | 1:59.336 | 0.244 | 11 |
| 5 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | Lotus | 1:59.426 | 0.334 | 11 |
| 6 | Dean Stoneman | DAMS | 1:59.454 | 0.362 | 13 |
| 7 | Nicholas Latifi | Arden Motorsport | 1:59.702 | 0.610 | 12 |
| 8 | Tom Dillmann | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:59.941 | 0.849 | 11 |
| 9 | Egor Orudzhev | Arden Motorsport | 2:00.039 | 0.947 | 13 |
| 10 | Pietro Fantin | International Draco Racing | 2:00.193 | 1.101 | 12 |
| 11 | Gustav Malja | Strakka Racing | 2:00.196 | 1.104 | 11 |
| 12 | Aurelien Panis | Tech 1 Racing | 2:00.219 | 1.127 | 12 |
| 13 | Roy Nissany | Tech 1 Racing | 2:00.223 | 1.131 | 12 |
| 14 | Beitske Visser | AVF | 2:00.270 | 1.178 | 13 |
| 15 | Alfonso Celis | AVF | 2:00.732 | 1.640 | 13 |
| 16 | Sean Gelael | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 2:00.753 | 1.661 | 10 |
| 17 | Meindert van Buuren | Lotus | 2:00.757 | 1.665 | 9 |
| 18 | Roberto Merhi | Pons Racing | 2:01.082 | 1.990 | 9 |
| 19 | Bruno Bonifacio | International Draco Racing | 2:01.666 | 2.574 | 12 |
| 20 | Patric Armand | Pons Racing | 2:14.899 | 15.807 | 3 |