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Formula Renault 2.0

Esteban Ocon (ART Junior Team) today claimed his first victory in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. The Frenchman started in ninth before tearing through the field and taking the lead with two laps remaining. Jake Dennis (Fortec Motorsports) finished second for his first podium of the season, while Oliver Rowland (Manor MP Motorsport) snatched third from Aurélien Panis (Prema Powerteam), who had gambled on wet tyres.

In qualifying this morning, Luca Ghiotto (Prema Powerteam) claimed his maiden Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 pole. The Italian was joined on the front row by Egor Orudzhev (Tech 1 Racing). Jake Dennis and Pierre Gasly (Tech 1 Racing) lined up behind them, with Oliver Rowland starting all the way back on the tenth row.

With the track still wet from storms earlier in the day, Jake Dennis made the strongest start, while Luca Ghiotto suffered a costly spin. On the opening lap, Ignazio D’Agosto (KTR) and Aurélien Panis used their wet tyres to good effect and moved out into the lead. Jake Dennis followed in third.

The gap between the front pair and Jake Dennis soon opened up, with Dennis under pressure from Marcos Siebert (Jenzer Motorsport), who had started back in 29th. Aurélien Panis took the lead on lap eight, but the drying track allowed Dennis and Esteban Ocon to pull themselves back into contention.

In a frantic finish, Jake Dennis took the lead but then lost it again to Esteban Ocon with two laps remaining. Ocon held on to take victory from Dennis, with Oliver Rowland beating Aurélien Panis to the final podium place by one thousandth of a second. Pierre Gasly finished fifth, ahead of Ed Jones (Fortec Motorsports), Matt Parry (Fortec Motorsports), Victor Franzoni (Koiranen GP) and Egor Orudzhev. Oscar Tunjo (Josef Kaufmann Racing) rounded out the top ten.

What they said

Esteban Ocon: "To be honest, this maiden victory wasn’t all that difficult. We had to make the same decision last year. The start was tricky, of course, but the drivers who went with wet tyres lost a lot of time in the closing laps. To get past Jake, I worked out that the inside line was drier than the usual trajectory, and that helped me complete this first victory."

Jake Dennis: "It was a real challenge to stay on the track in the opening laps, but things got better and better after that. Unfortunately, Esteban quickly came back and found the perfect opportunity to pass me. But I’ve got this first podium finish, so it’s still been a good day."

Oliver Rowland: "My focus was on damage limitation. When I overtook Pierre, all I wanted was for him to stay behind me. Later, at the finish line, I didn’t even know if I’d managed to pass Panis."

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 – provisional championship standings: 1. P. Gasly 172; 2. O. Rowland 161; 3. E. Ocon 128; 4. J. Dennis 118; 5. O. Tunjo 91 [...]

  • Results to be confirmed, pending post-race technical inspections

Official Renault Sport Press Release.

Posted: 29 September 2013
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