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Gasly crowned champion as Ocon wins final race

by Ant Musker
Photo: Renault Sport

Photo: World Series by Renault

Pierre Gasly won the 2013 Eurocup 2.0 championship with a sixth-place finish in race two at Barcelona, after title rival Oliver Rowland received a drive-through penalty for causing a collision between the pair on the first lap.

Esteban Ocon benefited from the incident and managed to claim his second race victory of the season ahead of Nyck de Vries and Andrea Pizzitola.

The first lap descended into chaos when Rowland tried a move for the lead and clipped Gasly, sending the Frenchman into a spin and damaging his own front wing in the process. A number of crashes in the very same corner, which saw Bruno Bonifacio upside-down and lots of other drivers retiring on the spot, brought out the safety car.

Ten minutes later, Ocon led the pack at the restart as Rowland, who was in third, starting to slip down the order, massively slowed down by his front wing. The Brit then came in for the penalty, surrendering his title ambitions.

Gasly was in tenth under the safety car but quickly set about climbing through the field as the race restarted, passing Aurelien Panis and then dealing with the Lotus junior pair of Oscar Tunjo and Alexander Albon.

Out in front, Ocon was relatively untroubled by de Vries and went on to cross the line in first, with the Dutchman holding off Pizzitola for second.

Racing Steps foundation driver Jake Dennis took his 12th points finish of the year in fourth, followed by Russian Egor Orudzhev in fifth.

Gasly finished sixth, ahead Albon, Tunjo and Panis, with Ukyo Sasahara picking up tenth after Victor Franzoni and Jack Aitken were removed out of points contention on the final lap.

Gasly, therefore, has been crowned the new Eurocup champion with a 16-point advantage in the standings over nearest rival Rowland, while the winner of the race Ocon finishes the season in third.

Gasly’s championship success completes a double for the Tech 1 team, who took the team title yesterday.

Race results
Pos. Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Esteban Ocon ART Junior Team 14 laps in 27:49.303
2 Nyck de Vries Koiranen GP +1.208
3 Andrea Pizzitola ART Junior Team +1.848
4 Jake Dennis Fortec Motorsports +2.616
5 Egor Orudzhev Tech 1 Racing +3.183
6 Pierre Gasly Tech 1 Racing +10.406
7 Alexander Albon KTR +12.852
8 Oscar Tunjo Josef Kaufmann Racing +13.118
9 Aurelien Panis Prema Powerteam +13.315
10 Ukyo Sasahara Euronova Racing +15.390
11 Mikko Pakari Fortec Motorsports +15.844
12 Steijn Schothorst Josef Kaufmann Racing +16.390
13 Ignazio D’Agosto KTR +17.158
14 Guilherme Silva Koiranen GP +17.332
15 Levin Amweg Jenzer Motorsport +17.997
16 Marcos Siebert Jenzer Motorsport +20.870
17 Ed Jones Fortec Motorsports +20.911
18 Raoul Owens Mark Burdett Motorsport +21.712
19 Jack Aitken Manor MP Motorsport +24.016
20 Yu Kanamaru KTR +25.299
21 Leo Roussel Manor MP Motorsport +26.135
22 Gustav Malja Josef Kaufmann Racing +26.597
23 Luca Ghiotto Prema Powerteam +26.985
24 Roman Beregech RC Formula +31.189
25 Gregor Ramsay Euronova Racing +32.168
26 Simon Tirman ARTA Engineering +33.226
27 John Filippi RC Formula +33.725
28 Oliver Rowland Manor MP Motorsport +34.737
29 William Vermont ARTA Engineering +54.027
30 Victor Franzoni Koiranen GP +1 lap
Not classified
Alejandro Abogado Interwetten.com Racing +5 laps
Kevin Jorg Jenzer Motorsport +14 laps
Bruno Bonifacio Prema Powerteam +14 laps
Benjamin Bailly RC Formula +14 laps