Lynn wraps up title while Rowland snatches runner-up spot.

Alex Lynn finally wrapped up the Formula Renault 2.0 championship that looked rightfully his since the start of the season, and it was a good day all round for Fortec as Lynn and Oliver Rowland took a win each at the final round at Silverstone.

The pair were the class of the field all weekend starting with qualifying on Saturday which was dominated by Lynn, who snatched two pole positions for Sunday ahead of Daniel Cammish for race one and Mitchell Gilbert for race two, while Rowland was third on the grid for both races.

The opening race was a familiar sight as Lynn this time made a perfect start when the lights went out on Sunday morning to lead the field through the first lap, tailed by Rowland who got the better of Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Cammish in the opening lap.

Lynn and Rowland soon began to break away from the field, setting fastest laps which they traded during the first half of the race regularly before leader Lynn began to edge away.

By the flag, Lynn’s lead had eaked out to a comfortable cushion of over six seconds on Rowland, the result meaning the Fortec man finally snatched the Formula Renault championship, while Rowland secured the Graduate Cup crown.

It also means he now holds the record for the most wins in a Formula Renault season after securing what was his 12th of a fantastic season for the Essex-based driver.

“It’s fantastic to finally win it, I’m overjoyed” said Lynn.

“The weekend was really good, the car was fantastic all day. I got into the first corner leading and that was all I needed”.

Third place in the end went to Cammish after qualifying a season-best second, and he found himself battling with team-mate Jack Hawksworth and Atech Reid GP’s Ellinas in the opening laps, before Cammish broke away to hang onto a podium finish.

Ellinas and Hawksworth were left to fight each other for fourth place, and it was Ellinas who won the entertaining scrap for the position, but it was not enough to keep his title aspirations alive.

Hawksworth was fifth ahead of Gilbert who had to battle his way from eighth to sixth, having lost ground from fourth on the grid, while Jordan King beat Manor Competition team-mate Josh Hill to seventh with Atech’s Dan Wells and Oscar King rounding out the top 10.

Fortec’s second qualifying was perfect as they wrapped up the top four spots, but the second race was completely different from newly-crowned champion Lynn, who made another good start from pole and was again followed onto the back straight by Rowland in second.

Then as the field threaded through Brooklands, Rowland saw a gap up the inside of his Fortec team-mate and threw his car up the inside, but the pair made contact and sent Lynn spinning down to back of the field.

Rowland therefore assumed the lead of the race and dominated the entire race from then.

The challenge he faced was to try and grab second in the championship, and with rival Ellinas down in fourth place it was possible if Rowland could win and take fastest lap, putting them equal on points but with Rowland having won more races.

Ellinas’ problem was that he could not find a way around Cammish for third place, and that’s were they stayed to the flag, but then on the final lap of the race, Rowland set a superb lap that proved to be the fastest of the race and with that and the race win he snatched the runner-up spot in the championship much to his delight.

Taking second for another Fortec one-two was Gilbert, while behind the battle for third the field was mixed up by a series of drive-through penalities for several drivers exceeding track limits using the Copse run-off area too much, including Manor’s Alice Powell, series champion Lynn, as well as Oscar King and Fortec’s Felix Serralles who also had to pit with front wing damage after contact on lap one.

Hill therefore finished a strong fifth ahead of Hawksworth, Wells (who finished the season strongly), Jordan King, Lynn and Powell rounding up the 10. Hill was also Manor’s top finisher in the championship as a result.

Final championship standings: 

1.     Alex Lynn (Fortec Motorsport), 521 – Champion

2.     Oliver Rowland (Fortec Motorsport), 475 (G) – Graduate winner

3.     Tio Ellinas (Atech Reid GP), 475

4.     Jack Hawksworth (Mark Burdett Motorsport), 333

5.     Mitchell Gilbert (Fortec Motorsport), 317 (G)

6.     Daniel Cammish (Mark Burdett Motorsport), 285

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