Home Z - Archive seriesFormula Renault Eurocup Ocon takes first Eurocup victory in frantic race two

Ocon takes first Eurocup victory in frantic race two

by Ant Musker
Esteban Ocon

Photo: Renault Sport/DPPI

Esteban Ocon delivered his first Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 win in a thrilling race two at Paul Ricard.

On a wet track, for so long the race had been dominated by Ignazio D?Agosto and Aurelien Panis on their wet tyres, pulling out a ten second gap from the rest of the pack after pole man Luca Ghioto?s early spin.

The pair battled hard and interchanged the lead, however, as the track dried, they were caught firstly by Jake Dennis before Ocon overtook the Brit to claim his maiden series win.

A sensational drive from championship contender Oliver Rowland saw him charge from 19th on the grid to finish on the podium by just 0.001s, getting ahead of Panis in a photo finish.

Pierre Gasly must have been astounded to see his title rival suddenly behind him, then passing him as the Frenchman came home in fifth ahead of Ed Jones.

Guest driver for the weekend and Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup championship leader Matt Parry finished the race in seventh with Koiranen?s Victor Franzoni finishing in the top ten for the first time this season.

Egor Orudzhev, who started on the front row and went off track fought back to end the race in ninth with Oscar Tunjo tenth.

After leading the race for such a long time, D?Agosto?s tyre choice saw him slip away and he was also punished with a ten second time penalty for abusing track limits.

A great win for Lotus junior driver Ocon, who at just 17 years old eeps himself in mathematical championship contention with the maximum points taken. However it is far more likely that the title will go to either Gasly or Rowland who by sneaking on to the podium at the last moment cuts the gap to 11 points going into the final race weekend at Barcelona.

Race results
Pos Driver? Team? Time/Gap
1 Esteban Ocon ART Junior Team 12 laps in 28:38.398
2 Jake Dennis Fortec Motorsports +0.430
3 Oliver Rowland Manor MP Motorsport +15.064
4 Aurelien Panis Prema Powerteam +15.065
5 Pierre Gasly Tech 1 Racing +16.262
6 Edward Jones Fortec Motorsports +20.309
7 Matt Parry Fortec Motorsports +22.499
8 Victor Franzoni Koiranen GP +23.819
9 Egor Orudzhev Tech 1 Racing +25.116
10 Oscar Tunjo Josef Kaufmann Racing +26.152
11 Marcos Siebert Jenzer Motorsport +27.333
12 Nyck De Vries Koiranen GP +28.428
13 Steijn Schothorst Josef Kaufmann Racing +30.654
14 Mikko Pakari Fortec Motorsports +33.375
15 Ignazio D’Agosto KTR +37.014
16 Bruno Bonifacio Prema Powerteam +37.229
17 Alexander Albon KTR +37.977
18 Nicolas Jamin ART Junior Team +39.100
19 Guilherme Silva Koiranen GP +40.776
20 Gregor Ramsay Manor MP Motorsport +43.250
21 Leo Roussel Manor MP Motorsport +48.887
22 Luca Ghiotto Prema Powerteam +50.905
23 Roman Mavlanov RC Formula +52.173
24 Gustav Malja Josef Kaufmann Racing +53.548
25 Simon Tirman ARTA Engineering +54.256
26 Levin Amweg Jenzer Motorsport +59.846
27 Mattia Vita RC Formula +1:13.848
28 Alejandro Abogado Interwetten.com Racing +1:35.307
29 Joffrey De Narda ARTA Engineering +2:01.251
30 Matthieu Vaxiviere Tech 1 Racing +2 Laps
Not classified
Yu Kanamaru KTR 9 laps
Andrea Pizzitola ART Junior Team 8 laps
Ryan Tveter Fortec Motorsports 3 laps
William Vermont ARTA Engineering 2 laps
Benjamin Bailly RC Formula 1 lap
Kevin Jorg Jenzer Motorsport 0 laps
Bernd Herndlhofer Interwetten.com Racing Not started