Home News Matevos Isaakyan ends first day of Aragon F3.5V8 test on top

Matevos Isaakyan ends first day of Aragon F3.5V8 test on top

by Peter Allen
Matevos Isaakyan

Photo: Jean Michel Le Meur/DPPI

Formula Renault 2.0 graduate Matevos Isaakyan topped a test session for the second time since stepping up to Formula 3.5 V8, leading the afternoon running on the first day at Aragon.

The 17-year-old Russian traded places with Pons team-mate Yu Kanamaru?at the top of the timing screens with half an hour remaining, and ended up ahead with a time of 1m41.505.

That was three tenths quicker than the morning benchmark set by fellow rookie Ben Barnicoat, and remained good enough to end the day fastest.

Jake Hughes came closest to toppling Isaakyan, falling four hundredths of a second short after two quick laps inside the final five minutes.

Kevin Jorg made it a top-three lockout for FR2.0 graduates when he took third place for Lotus, within 0.074s of the pace.

He demoted Hughes’ Strakka Racing team-mate Callum Ilott, the 16-year-old ending his first day at a 3.5 test with the fourth best time.

Kanamaru ended up back in fifth ahead of Barnicoat, with Alfonso Celis seventh and Egor Orudzhev eighth.

Eurocup rivals Louis Deletraz and Jack Aitken fought over top spot with around an hour to go but ended up ninth and 11th respectively.

They were split at the chequered flag by a late lap from Ukyo Sasahara, running on his own for Comtec on his first day in 3.5.

There were three changes of driver for the afternoon session.

Tom Dillmann took over from rookie Thiago Vivacqua alongside Celis at AVF and was 14th after a technical issue limited him to eight laps, while Isaakyan’s SMP Racing colleagues Vladimir Atoev and Nikita Zlobin took over at Spirit of Race.

Afternoon session results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Matevos Isaakyan Pons Racing 1:41.505 36
2 Jake Hughes Strakka Racing 1:41.545 0.040 27
3 Kevin Jorg Lotus 1:41.579 0.074 28
4 Callum Ilott Strakka Racing 1:41.705 0.200 34
5 Yu Kanamaru Pons Racing 1:41.823 0.318 35
6 Ben Barnicoat Carlin 1:41.881 0.376 31
7 Alfonso Celis AVF 1:41.903 0.398 33
8 Egor Orudzhev Arden Motorsport 1:41.911 0.406 41
9 Louis Deletraz Fortec Motorsports 1:41.927 0.422 29
10 Ukyo Sasahara Comtec Racing 1:42.042 0.537 22
11 Jack Aitken Arden Motorsport 1:42.105 0.600 41
12 Aurelien Panis Tech 1 Racing 1:42.169 0.664 33
13 Dean Stoneman Carlin 1:42.235 0.730 30
14 Tom Dillmann AVF 1:42.632 1.127 8
15 Anthoine Hubert Tech 1 Racing 1:42.855 1.350 39
16 Alex Bosak Fortec Motorsports 1:43.104 1.599 36
17 Vladimir Atoev Spirit of Race 1:43.149 1.644 34
18 Vitor Baptista Lotus 1:43.244 1.739 42
19 Nikita Zlobin Spirit of Race 1:45.144 3.639 15