Photo: Lorenzo Charlez / AS Media
Pre-season pacesetter Matthieu Vaxiviere topped the first session of Formula Renault 3.5’s opening weekend at Motorland Aragon.
Vaxiviere, whose two wins in Formula Renault 2.0 both came at the Spanish track, dethroned Swedish rookie Gustav Malja in the dying seconds of the session, beating him by just 0.007s.
Malja led much of the running and returned to the top spot after being demoted by AVF’s Beitske Visser, but ultimately ended up second. Visser herself took third, seven hundredths down on the leader.
Pietro Fantin began his third season in the series in fourth, a tenth up on Eurocup champion Nyck de Vries and Jazeman Jaafar.
Tio Ellinas led Alfonso Celis in seventh, the latter causing one of the session’s red flags. Pre-season favorites Oliver Rowland and Roberto Merhi were ninth and 11th, split by Red Bull junior Dean Stoneman.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | Lotus | 1:42.013 | 14 | |
| 2 | Gustav Malja | Strakka Racing | 1:42.020 | 0.007 | 19 |
| 3 | Beitske Visser | AVF | 1:42.083 | 0.070 | 19 |
| 4 | Pietro Fantin | International Draco Racing | 1:42.139 | 0.126 | 20 |
| 5 | Nyck de Vries | DAMS | 1:42.235 | 0.222 | 17 |
| 6 | Jazeman Jaafar | Fortec Motorsports | 1:42.253 | 0.240 | 17 |
| 7 | Tio Ellinas | Strakka Racing | 1:42.361 | 0.348 | 15 |
| 8 | Alfonso Celis | AVF | 1:42.376 | 0.363 | 17 |
| 9 | Oliver Rowland | Fortec Motorsports | 1:42.432 | 0.419 | 18 |
| 10 | Dean Stoneman | DAMS | 1:42.563 | 0.550 | 16 |
| 11 | Roberto Merhi | Pons Racing | 1:42.686 | 0.673 | 10 |
| 12 | Tom Dillmann | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:42.699 | 0.686 | 17 |
| 13 | Patric Armand | Pons Racing | 1:42.925 | 0.912 | 19 |
| 14 | Meindert van Buuren | Lotus | 1:43.008 | 0.995 | 13 |
| 15 | Sean Gelael | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:43.113 | 1.100 | 13 |
| 16 | Bruno Bonifacio | International Draco Racing | 1:43.185 | 1.172 | 17 |
| 17 | Egor Orudzhev | Arden Motorsport | 1:43.416 | 1.403 | 16 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Arden Motorsport | 1:43.470 | 1.457 | 14 |
| 19 | Roy Nissany | Tech 1 Racing | 1:44.216 | 2.203 | 9 |
| 20 | Aurelien Panis | Tech 1 Racing | 1:44.835 | 2.822 | 17 |