Home News Marciello remains quickest on day one of Aragon test

Marciello remains quickest on day one of Aragon test

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

Ferrari protege Raffaele Marciello continued to dominate the opening day of the Formula Renault 3.5 post-season test at Motorland Aragon, as he followed up his session-topping morning effort with an even more convincing performance in the afternoon.

The Italian held a firm grip over the lead for the majority of the second session and finally put himself out of reach for his rivals with a stunning late effort of 1:39.258.

Half a second down, Sergey Sirotkin took the runner-up spot in the timesheets. However, post-session, his car wound up failing the weight checks, as did the cars of Pietro Fantin and Jack Aitken. The drivers were initially penalized with the invalidation of their best laps but soon returned to their original places in the timesheets after an issue with the scales was discovered.

Lotus rookie Esteban Ocon maintained stellar testing pace by taking third, with fellow Eurocup driver Oliver Rowland in fourth. Strakka’s 2013 driver Matias Laine was fifth, ahead of fellow 3.5 regulars Zoel Amberg and Fantin, who tested with DAMS and Draco respectively.

Formula Renault 2.0 NEC runner-up Aitken was eighth, while Luca Ghiotto, who was second in the Alps championship, was ninth. Jazeman Jaafar rounded out his day with Tech 1 in tenth.

Session results
Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Raffaele Marciello P1 by Strakka Racing 1:39.258 38
2 Sergey Sirotkin Fortec Motorsports 1:39.841 0.583 41
3 Esteban Ocon Lotus 1:39.985 0.727 54
4 Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 1:40.022 0.764 35
5 Matias Laine P1 by Strakka Racing 1:40.123 0.865 35
6 Zoel Amberg DAMS 1:40.375 1.117 30
7 Pietro Fantin International Draco Racing 1:40.412 1.154 39
8 Jack Aitken Arden Caterham 1:40.540 1.282 45
9 Luca Ghiotto Pons Racing 1:40.778 1.520 29
10 Jazeman Jaafar Tech 1 Racing 1:40.847 1.589 33
11 Marlon Stockinger Lotus 1:40.881 1.623 53
12 William Buller Arden Caterham 1:40.890 1.632 43
13 Alex Lynn DAMS 1:40.948 1.690 31
14 Matthieu Vaxiviere Pons Racing 1:40.955 1.697 27
15 Pierre Gasly Tech 1 Racing 1:41.027 1.769 44
16 Felix Rosenqvist ISR 1:41.090 1.832 29
17 Dean Stoneman Carlin 1:41.183 1.925 34
18 Riccardo Agostini AV Formula 1:41.226 1.968 41
19 Matt Parry Carlin 1:41.450 2.192 41
20 Nikolay Martsenko Zeta Corse 1:41.510 2.252 20
21 Mirko Bortolotti International Draco Racing 1:41.596 2.338 30
22 Roman Mavlanov Zeta Corse 1:41.839 2.581 35
23 Andrea Pizzitola AV Formula 1:42.812 3.554 36