Rowland delivers Siverstone masterclass

Oliver Rowland held off pole man Matthieu Vaxivière to win in front of the home crowd at the historic Silverstone circuit. The Fortec driver had an incredible pit stop which thrust him into the lead, a lead which he was able to maintain after a safety car. Pietro Fantin scored his first podium of the year, keeping behind him Dean Stoneman, who also won the rookie class.

Race 1 winner Tio Ellinas had a slow start, which dropped him back into the inevitably risky midfield. Indeed, Ellinas suffered, spinning off into the gravel and dropping like a stone. Meanwhile Fantin and Rowland tussled, yet try as he might the Brazilian couldn’t find a way through on the Brit.

A spin for Tom Dillmann left him stranded in the gravel, bringing an end to a somewhat lacklustre weekend for the Frenchman. While Vaxivière and Rowland stretched their legs at the front of the field, Latifi and Stoneman had their own little battle going on, and behind them Orudzhev, Panis and Yelloly scrapped about for the lower points.

As Vaxivière built up a solid lead at the front, Stoneman led a train of cars into the pits as the drivers came in for their mandatory tyre change. The on track drama continued, however, as Nyck De Vries collided with Bruno Bonifacio, taking the International Draco Racing driver out and damaging the front right of his car in the process, forcing the McLaren Junior to retire. For this, De Vries receives a 2 place grid penalty for the first race at the Nürburgring.

Race leader Vaxivière was amongst the next group of drivers to pit, and a good stop helped to keep him in contention for the win. For Rowland, staying out proved to be to his advantage as he drove his laps to perfection, pulling out a gap that eventually won him the race, that and the pitstop the Fortec team executed on Rowland, which was the fastest of the day. Emerging from the pits Rowland held a 1 second lead over Vaxivière’s Lotus, and despite being quicker the Frenchman couldn’t find a way to pass the Brit.

Thanks to Dillmann’s earlier incident a safety car was brought out to clear the car – initially causing some confusion due to the random time it was brought out. Nevertheless the field bunched together, something which Rowland said afterwards “hurt him more than anything” as it disrupted his rhythm. Luckily, the racing continued very quickly – the safety car being brought in after only a couple of laps – and after slowing the field right down Rowland shot off, Vaxivière following closely to leave Fantin and co. in their wake.

A small mistake from Rowland into Abbey gave Vaxivière the opportunity to try to pass, the fastest lap recorded by the Lotus driver just before also helping. Rowland managed to stay ahead though, and the gap only grew between the duo after that.

While the leaders crossed the line, Tio Ellinas was fighting hard with Aurélien Panis for minor points, something which put the final nail in the coffin for the Strakka Racing driver as he got spun around, putting him out of the points.

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