Oliver Rowland took advantage of a second final lap incident at the Bus Stop Chicane in as many races, before a post-race penalty promoted him further to a sixth place finish in the GP2 Series sprint race at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium.
Having secured a point in dramatic fashion at the final corner the previous day, Rowland made contact with Prema’s Pierre Gasly at Les Combes on the opening lap, retaining ninth place after making up a place from the start.
Rowland was forced to defend from ART Grand Prix’s Sergei Sirotkin but Gasly responded by first passing Sirotkin and then past Rowland MP Motorsport car around the outside of Eau Rouge on the second tour.
Rowland was unable to keep up with the final points scoring eighth placed Alex Lynn (DAMS), over two seconds clear while also having to defend from Sirotkin, only half a second behind and with the benefit of the Drag Reduction System.
Places remained static until two laps remaining, as Lynn tussled with the Racing Engineering car of Jordan King and Russian Time’s Artem Markelov, Rowland’s defecit behind reduced to under a second.
The battle came to a head, as the previous day, on the final lap at the Bus Stop Chicane, as Sirotkin came from behind to dive up the inside of both Rowland and Markelov.
Sirotkin collided with Markelov, spinning the Russian around. While the incident caused minor damage to Rowland’s car, the Racing Steps Foundation-backed driver managed to pass relatively unscathed and pull away to score eighth place over the line and the final points-paying place.
Following the conclusion of the race however, officials handed a 10-second time penalty to seven drivers for using their DRS on the opening lap of the race, against regulations.
This included two drivers provisionally classified ahead of Rowland: DAMS’ Alex Lynn and Racing Engineering’s Jordan King. Rowland was therefore promoted two places to sixth.
Prema’s Antonio Giovinazzi claimed race victory ahead of the Rapax of Gustav Malja. Trident’s Luca Ghiotto scored the final podium spot.