Race report

Formula V8 3.5 Silverstone

Silverstone FR3.5: Ellinas converts pole into comfortable maiden win

Strakka Racing's Tio Ellinas followed up his career-first Formula Renault 3.5 pole with a maiden victory in race 1 at Silverstone.

Valentin Khorounzhiy

Edited: Sep 6, 2015, 12:45 PM

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Tio Ellinas, Strakka Racing

#11 Tio Ellinas, Strakka Racing

Oliver Rowland, Fortec Motorsports

Matthieu Vaxivière

Nyck de Vries, DAMS

Jazeman Jaafar, Fortec Motorsports

Oliver Rowland, Fortec Motorsports

Matthieu Vaxivière

The Cypriot took his first win since 2013 in a race that proved eventful for almost every other driver but him.

After seeing off title contenders Matthieu Vaxiviere and Oliver Rowland in qualifying, Ellinas stayed out front at the start as the duo both slipped behind Jazeman Jaafar.

Jaafar then closed in on Ellinas out of Turn 1, but ended up bumping him in the rear wing and damaging his own nosecone.

As the race leader went on to pull away, Rowland shadowed Jaafar over the opening lap, but himself came under pressure from Vaxiviere, having to defend aggressively, only to see the Frenchman finally complete the move by slipstreaming past before Copse.

Vaxiviere then spent the next laps stuck behind Jaafar as Ellinas set the pace in clean air - and, after ten minutes, the Cypriot's victory already seemed a foregone conclusion.

It was then that Rowland caught back up to his French rival - and, when Vaxiviere tried to brake late to keep position, the Lotus driver ended up hitting Jaafar, damaging his front wing and letting Rowland through.

With Jaafar holding up a train of cars behind them, Dillmann passed both Vaxiviere and Rowland, but the Brit retook the spot into Village and then outbraked Jaafar as well.

And, as Dillmann had a moment out of Becketts and lost positions, it was again Vaxiviere's turn to have a go at Jaafar, the Frenchman finally taking the spot round the outside of Brooklands.

A yellow flag for Roy Nissany spearing Bruno Bonifacio off the road at Stowe briefly threatened to turn into a safety car period, but the race continued uninterrupted.

As such, the podium positions remained unchanged, with Ellinas cruising to the chequered flag eight seconds ahead of Rowland and Vaxiviere bringing the car home in third.

Nyck de Vries took fourth, ahead of Dillmann and Ellinas' teammate Gustav Malja.

Egor Orudzhev's seventh place broke a streak of non-scores since the Russian's maiden win at the Hungaroring, while Nicholas Latifi, Nissany and a slowing Jaafar completed the top ten.

In the standings. Rowland extended his lead over Vaxiviere by three points and now has a total of 29 points in hand with seven races to go.

Red Bull junior Dean Stoneman retired from the race early after picking up a left rear puncture on the opening lap.

Pos. Driver Team Time/Delay 1 Tio Ellinas Strakka Racing 42'07.547 2 Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 8.025 3 Matthieu Vaxiviere
Lotus 9.017 4 Nyck de Vries DAMS 19.947 5 Tom Dillmann Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 21.459 6 Gustav Malja Strakka Racing 24.387 7 Egor Orudzhev Arden Motorsport 35.177 8 Nicholas Latifi Arden Motorsport 35.563 9 Roy Nissany Tech 1 Racing 39.122 10 Jazeman Jaafar Fortec Motorsports 43.841 11 Pietro Fantin International Draco Racing 56.276 12 Will Bratt Pons Racing 1'02.106 13 Alfonso Celis AVF 1 Lap 14 Nick Yelloly Lotus 1 Lap Ret
Beitske Visser AVF Ret Bruno Bonifacio
International Draco Racing Ret Patric Armand
Pons Racing Ret Dean Stoneman DAMS Ret Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Ret Aurelien Panis Tech 1 Racing

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