Red Bull Junior, Jean-Eric Vergne, narrowly missed out on the Formula Renault 3.5 Series crown after an eventful second race in Barcelona on Sunday.
The Frenchman was literally in the driving seat with just 10 minutes of the race remaining and with championship rival Robert Wickens out of the race when Vergne was forced to retire his car in front of a 62,000 strong crowd in Spain.
The two championship contenders had clashed at the beginning of the race, which led to Wickens's retirement, but Vergne battled on until the end came agonisingly close to the chequered flag after a collision with Fairuz Fauz, who was attempting a pass.
Prior to the race, Wickens and Vergne were separated in the championship by just nine points, but with Vergne in fifth position in the race – enough to give him the title – the incident occurred, handing the Series to Wickens.
"This isn’t the way I dreamed of winning the title," Wickens said. "I finished second in the last two seasons and I thought it was going to be the same old story today, which wasn’t easy to deal with.
"But today I’m the champion and that’s fantastic. My thanks to Carlin for everything they’ve done this season. As for my future, nothing’s been decided yet but I know I’m going to be driving a Lotus Renault GP in Abu Dhabi.”
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