Nyck De Vries wins first race in season finale

The Formula Renault 3.5 Series collective tests at Circuito de Jerez went the way of Egor Orudzhev (Arden Motorsport). The Russian driver kicked off the battle for third place in the general classification and rookie of the year honors by posting the best time of the day with a lap of 1:28.758 in the morning session. The SMP Racing protégé was followed by Matthieu Vaxiviere (Lotus), who set the quickest time in the afternoon. The two AVF drivers, Beitske Visser and Alfonso Celis and Nyck de Vries (DAMS) completed the Friday top five.

With his eighth win of the season on Saturday, Oliver Rowland (Fortec Motorsports) broke the record for most wins in a season, previously held by Carlos Sainz. The recently crowned 2015 champion also set a new record for most points in a season since the introduction of the new scoring system in 2011, which had been held by 2013 title winner, Kevin Magnussen. Starting second on the grid, the Racing Steps Foundation protégé inherited the lead from pole winner Tom Dillmann (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) to take the win ahead of Egor Orudzhev and Matthieu Vaxiviere.

Winner of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Nyck de Vries takes his first victory in the season finale of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. The member of the McLaren Young Driver Development Programme demonstrated his opportunist skills in taking the victory from Oliver Rowland and Matthieu Vaxiviere, both of whom started from row one. With the win the Dutch driver wins rookie of the year honours and finishes third in the general classification. His performance also clinched second place in the team championship for DAMS.

Provisional general classification: 1. O. Rowland – 314 puntos, 2. M. Vaxiviere – 234, 3. N. de Vries – 160, 4. T. Ellinas – 135, 5. E. Orudzhev – 133…