The most recent new race winner in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series Roberto Merhi continued his good run by setting the fastest time in the collective tests ahead of this weekend’s round at the Nurburgring in Germany. The Zeta Corse driver set his best time of 1:42.179s in the closing stages of the second session to beat Pierre Gasly of Arden Motorsport.
In the first session, that was delayed after fog engulfed the circuit, Fortec Motorsports’ Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin, also a winner at Moscow Raceway two weeks ago, was fastest. The Russian was one of a handful of drivers not to improve on his time in the second session, and ultimately ended up tenth overall in the combined times.
Current Championship leader Carlos Sainz Jr was third overall in the leading DAMS entry, with the team hoping for a much stronger outing at the Nurburgring after struggling for pace in Russia. The Spaniard led a trio of British drivers in fourth, fifth and sixth, with William Buller of Arden Motorsport leading Oliver Rowland of Fortec Motorsport and Will Stevens of Strakka Racing.
Marlon Stockinger was the leading Lotus driver in seventh, ahead of Stevens’ Strakka team-mate Matias Lainé in eighth, while Marco Sorensen was ninth fastest for Tech 1 Racing ahead of Sirotkin.
Matthieu Vaxiviere was eleventh fastest on his return from injury for Lotus, while series debutants Cameron Twynham of Comtec Racing and Alfonso Celis Jr of Tech 1 Racing were twenty-first and twenty-second as they adjusted to their new cars.
Nurburgring Combined Collective Tests Results
| POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Zeta Corse | 1:42.179 |
| 2 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Arden Motorsport | 1:42.208 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz Jr | ESP | DAMS | 1:42.275 |
| 4 | William Buller | GBR | Arden Motorsport | 1:42.445 |
| 5 | Oliver Rowland | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | 1:42.557 |
| 6 | Will Stevens | GBR | Strakka Racing | 1:42.608 |
| 7 | Marlon Stockinger | PHI | Lotus | 1:42.624 |
| 8 | Matias Lainé | FIN | Strakka Racing | 1:42.796 |
| 9 | Marco Sorensen | DEN | Tech 1 Racing | 1:42.837 |
| 10 | Sergey Sirotkin | RUS | Fortec Motorsports | 1:42.898 |
| 11 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | FRA | Lotus | 1:42.904 |
| 12 | Norman Nato | FRA | DAMS | 1:42.976 |
| 13 | Luca Ghiotto | ITA | International Draco Racing | 1:43.001 |
| 14 | Oscar Tunjo | COL | Pons Racing | 1:43.004 |
| 15 | Pietro Fantin | BRZ | International Draco Racing | 1:43.160 |
| 16 | Roman Mavlanov | RUS | Zeta Corse | 1:43.494 |
| 17 | Jazeman Jaafar | MAL | ISR Racing | 1:43.652 |
| 18 | Beitske Visser | NED | AV Formula | 1:43.759 |
| 19 | Zoel Amberg | SWI | AV Formula | 1:43.839 |
| 20 | Meindert van Buuren | NED | Pons Racing | 1:44.055 |
| 21 | Cameron Twynham | GBR | Comtec Racing | 1:44.293 |
| 22 | Alfonso Celis Jr | MEX | Tech 1 Racing | 1:44.449 |
