Formula Renault 3.5

Fantin and Draco End Fastest on Final Day in Jerez

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International Draco Racing’s Pietro Fantin finished fastest on the final day of pre-season testing for the Formula Renault 3.5 series.  The Brazilian driver set the fastest time of 1:25.945s during the morning session, where all drivers set their best times.  The afternoon session was generally used for longer high-fuel runs.

“I’m thrilled to finish the tests like this because we didn’t make a very good start,” admitted Fantin on the official WSR website.  “On Monday, we had a lot of understeer before making good progress yesterday. The changes we made helped us to get back to our true level. Once we had done that, I was able to up my pace and use the new tyres more effectively.”

Russian Sergey Sirotkin finished second fastest for Fortec Motorsports, just ahead of Red Bull junior driver Pierre Gasly of Arden Motorsport.  Tech 1 Racing’s sole runner of the day Marco Sorensen ended up fourth fastest, just ahead of another Russian in the form of Comtec Racing’s Nikolay Martsenko.

Spaniard Roberto Merhi ran 50 laps during the day to end up sixth fastest for Zeta Corse, as he continued to re-acclimatise himself to single-seaters having raced in the DTM series for the past two seasons.  Merhi is hoping to impress to gain a foothold in the series so to regain momentum in his quest to be the next Spanish F1 star.

Seventh fastest was Marlon Stockinger in his Lotus, just ahead of day two pacesetter Oliver Rowland in the second Fortec car, while another of the championship favourites Carlos Sainz Jr, the second Red Bull junior driver in the field, finished ninth in his DAMS machine.  Malaysian driver Jazeman Jaafar, fastest on the first day on Monday, ended the final day tenth quickest in his ISR car.

The season begins 12th-13th April at the legendary Monza circuit in Italy.

Jerez Day 3 Pre-season Test Times

POS DRIVER NAT TEAM TIME
1 Pietro Fantin BRZ International Draco Racing 1:25.945
2 Sergey Sirotkin RUS Fortec Motorsport 1:26.006
3 Pierre Gasly FRA Arden Motorsport 1:26.017
4 Marco Sorensen DEN Tech 1 Racing 1:26.031
5 Nikolay Martsenko RUS Comtec Racing 1:26.129
6 Roberto Merhi ESP Zeta Corse 1:26.163
7 Marlon Stockinger PHI Lotus 1:26.185
8 Oliver Rowland GBR Fortec Motorsports 1:26.189
9 Carlos Sainz Jr ESP DAMS 1:26.201
10 Jazeman Jaafar MAL ISR 1:26.219
11 Norman Nato FRA DAMS 1:26.223
12 Luca Ghiotto ITA International Draco Racing 1:26.272
13 Matias Lainé FIN Strakka Racing 1:26.313
14 Matthieu Vaxiviere FRA Lotus 1:26.401
15 Meindert van Buuren NED Pons Racing 1:26.410
16 Will Stevens GBR Strakka Racing 1:26.416
17 Tio Ellinas CYP Pons Racing 1:26.526
18 William Buller GBR Arden Motorsport 1:26.755
19 Beitske Visser NED AVF 1:26.982
20 Zoel Amberg SWI AVF 1:27.545
21 Roman Mavlanov RUS Zeta Corse 1:27.618
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