Silverstone FR3.5: Rowland edges Vaxiviere for fifth win of 2015
Matthieu Vaxiviere's chance to take points out of championship leader Oliver Rowland has gone begging as the Brit led him across the line in the second Formula Renault 3.5 race on Sunday.
Oliver Rowland, Fortec Motorsports
Daniel James Smith
After a dominant qualifying performance Vaxiviere looked set to outscore his title rival, but dropped behind the Brit due to a slow stop and never managed to get the lead back.
Having suffered slow getaways on a few occasions this season, the Frenchman nailed his launch this time around, maintaining the lead into Turn 1.
As Rowland remained second, fending off Pietro Fantin, yesterday's winner Tio Ellinas was hit off by Nyck de Vries, while another Saturday frontrunner Tom Dillmann spun later on in the lap.
After establishing a two-lap lead, Vaxiviere opted to come into the pits on lap seven - but a delay of several seconds meant Fantin managed to emerge ahead a lap later, although the Frenchman easily passed him on warmer tyres.
But he'd have no such luck with Rowland, who rejoined in front on lap 10 and kept Vaxiviere at bay until the safety car came out with 20 minutes to go for Dillmann's stopped car.
The restart followed in five minutes, with Rowland initially establishing a gap between himself and his French rival.
Yet Vaxiviere was soon right back on his tail, having a major look out of Copse, but remaining behind Rowland.
Eventually, the Brit appeared to have weathered the storm, putting a second between himself and his main championship rival.
The Fortec driver would go on to nurture that lead until the chequered flag.
Fantin took his and Draco's first podium of the season in third place, ahead of Dean Stoneman and Nicholas Latifi.
Egor Orudzhev and Nick Yelloly both passed Gustav Malja in the final stint, the Swede having to do with eighth place.
A recovering Ellinas made it back into the top ten but collided with Aurelien Panis and eventually took 11th. Panis himself salvaged ninth, while Sean Gelael completed the points.
Rowland's lead over Vaxiviere in the standings has now gone up to 36 points, with Stoneman a full 75 down on the Frenchman as the best of the rest.
Pos | Driver | Team | Time/Delay |
1 | Oliver Rowland | Fortec Motorsports | 43'24.786 |
2 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | Lotus | 1.204 |
3 | Pietro Fantin | International Draco Racing | 3.384 |
4 | Dean Stoneman | DAMS | 4.056 |
5 | Nicholas Latifi | Arden Motorsport | 10.255 |
6 | Egor Orudzhev | Arden Motorsport | 14.166 |
7 | Nick Yelloly | Lotus | 15.776 |
8 | Gustav Malja | Strakka Racing | 22.536 |
9 | Aurelien Panis | Tech 1 Racing | 31.772 |
10 | Sean Gelael | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 31.938 |
11 | Tio Ellinas | Strakka Racing | 34.014 |
12 | Alfonso Celis | AVF | 34.619 |
13 | Beitske Visser | AVF | 39.690 |
14 | Roy Nissany | Tech 1 Racing | 40.105 |
15 | Will Bratt | Pons Racing | 40.404 |
16 | Patric Armand | Pons Racing | 50.302 |
Ret | Tom Dillmann | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | |
Ret | Nyck de Vries | DAMS | |
Ret | Bruno Bonifacio | International Draco Racing | |
Ret | Jazeman Jaafar | Fortec Motorsports |
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