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Rowland wins controversial Sunday race

by Valentin Khorounzhiy

Oliver Rowland emerged victorious in the Sunday race of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, but whether his win will stand still remains to be seen.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly started the race from pole, with Gasly snatching the lead away from his compatriot into turn one. With Ocon running wide, it was Rowland who slotted into P2 and, a turn later, the Brit made contact with race leader Gasly, causing the Frenchman to spin.

Having went off-track, Gasly rejoined right in the way of other competitors and ended up colliding with Denis Korneev, which ended the championship leader’s race.

After the hectic lap one, the race was back to the normal procession, with Rowland fending off attacks from Ocon. He managed to hold the Frenchman back and crossed the line in first.

In third, Ignazio D’Agosto drove a great defensive race to take his first podium in the Eurocup. Oscar Tunjo took fourth, ahead of Jake Dennis and Mikko Pakari. Local driver Egor Orudzhev was seventh, ahead of the Prema duo with Bruno Bonifacio placing ahead of Luca Ghiotto. The top ten was rounded out by Ed Jones.

Race results
Pos. Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Oliver Rowland Manor MP Motorsport 17 laps in 27:14.514
2 Esteban Ocon ART Junior Team +0.173
3 Ignazio D’Agosto KTR +6.801
4 Oscar Tunjo Josef Kaufmann Racing +7.499
5 Jake Dennis Fortec Motorsports +8.111
6 Mikko Pakari Fortec Motorsports +8.658
7 Egor Orudzhev Tech 1 Racing +9.607
8 Bruno Bonifacio Prema Powerteam +10.475
9 Luca Ghiotto Prema Powerteam +11.692
10 Edward Jones Fortec Motorsports +12.854
11 Alexander Albon KTR +15.453
12 Matthieu Vaxiviere Tech 1 Racing +16.494
13 Alex Baron ART Junior Team +17.006
14 Steijn Schothorst Josef Kaufmann Racing +17.749
15 Andrea Pizzitola ART Junior Team +18.297
16 Nyck de Vries Koiranen GP +18.612
17 Victor Franzoni Koiranen GP +20.436
18 William Vermont ARTA Engineering +21.002
19 Gustav Malja Josef Kaufmann Racing +22.686
20 Guilherme Silva Koiranen GP +23.806
21 Benjamin Bailly RC Formula +25.276
22 Konstantin Tereschenko Interwetten.com Racing +26.017
23 Hans Villemi Atech Reid GP +26.842
24 Kevin Jorg Jenzer Motorsport +29.772
25 Aurelien Panis RC Formula +30.907
26 Simon Tirman ARTA Engineering +31.402
27 Javier Merlo Manor MP Motorsport +34.087
28 Yu Kanamaru KTR +34.625
29 Roman Mavlanov RC Formula +36.404
30 Alex Bosak Atech Reid GP +57.460
31 Jack Aitken Manor MP Motorsport +1 lap
32 Leo Roussel ARTA Engineering +2 laps
Not classified
Levin Amweg Jenzer Motorsport +9 laps
Denis Korneev Jenzer Motorsport +16 laps
Pierre Gasly Tech 1 Racing +17 laps