‘IT’S NOT over until it’s over’ is defending champion Oliver Rowland’s message to his Formula E rivals despite a tough weekend in Shanghai.

The Penistone man, 32, finished 13th then eighth so slipped down a place in the overall standings to third, 27 points behind leader Pascal Wehrlein with 25 points awarded for a win.

The season now concludes with double-headers in Tokyo at the end of the month then in London in mid-August.

With qualifying brought forward due to heavy rain, Rowland put himself fourth on the grid for the second race.

Having wet tyres on a drying track saw him slip back down the field.

After a ‘full course yellow’ allowed him to change tyres in a pit stop, he powered through the field to gain six places.

He finished eighth and took an extra point for the fastest lap, collecting five in total.

Rowland said: “Qualifying in the wet was very positive. In the E-Prix, it became more difficult as the track dried out on our wet set-up.

“I was outside the points and losing pace, so it made sense to take the risk of pitting and changing to dry-pressure tyres under the full course yellow.

“In the end that decision paid off and we moved forward to collect a handful of points from the event.

“We’re still in contention for the title with four races remaining and it’s not over until it’s over, so we’ll now have a good reset and aim to deliver in Tokyo, where we have a strong history.”

Tommaso Volpe, managing director and team principal of Nissan Formula E team, said: “For the race we opted for wet set-ups on both cars, which didn’t pay off as the rain stopped and the track dried faster than expected.

“But at least the bold move with Oli to change tyres during the full course yellow was the right one – he showed great pace after that and could score some points.

“We didn’t maximise our performance this weekend, but Oli is still in a good position to battle for the Drivers’ Championship going into the last four races, which is very positive.”