Rowland holds off championship rival Gasly to extend lead

Photo: World Series by Renault

Oliver Rowland extended his Eurocup 2.0 championship lead to 17 points with a hard fought victory in race two at Speilburg.

The Racing Steps driver started from pole and led the whole way despite fierce pressure from behind. Rowland?s closest rival for the title Pierre Gasly started alongside him but the Manor MP driver held off the early attempt to get ahead. Gasly continued to apply pressure to Rowland out in front as the pair battled side to side and noise to tail with one another.

Rowland?s inability to createp left a trail behind him as Alexander Albon looked to take advantage with the front two fighting it out. However he failed to do so and slipped down to seventh.

Ed Jones began to catch the front pair but neither he nor Gasly could pass for the lead as Rowland kept calm despite the fact less than three seconds covered the top five cars in the latter stages of the race.

So it was Rowland who took his third victory of the year, ahead of Gasly, who pressured him until the very last lap. Jones recorded a second consecutive podium, closely followed by Jake Dennis who, likewise, repeated his result from race one.

Albon managed to fight back up to arrive at the flag in fifth as he overtook sixth-place finisher Oscar Tunjo with Luca Ghiotto crossing the line seventh.

Albon’s teammate at KTR Ignazio D’Agosto struggled for pace and dropped down to eighth place while Levin Amweg will be pleased with his charge from sixteenth place to come home ninth. Steijn Schothorst rounded off the top ten.

Race result