Marlon Stockinger upset the Formula Renault 3.5 Series formbook by posting the fastest time in both collective test sessions on Friday at Paul Ricard.
The Lotus driver set a best time of 1:48.905s in the morning session before lowering that to a 1:48.523s in the afternoon session.
His Lotus team-mate Matthieu Vaxiviere was second fastest in the morning session as the team quickly came to grips with the French circuit. Oliver Rowland, who has an outside chance of the title in his rookie season was third fastest for Fortec Motorsports, ahead of Marco Sorensen of Tech 1 Racing.
William Buller and Pierre Gasly put their Arden Motorsport machines fifth and sixth respectively in the morning, just ahead of DAMS duo Norman Nato and Carlos Sainz Jr, who currently leads the championship by 16 points from Roberto Merhi of Zeta Corse who was eleventh.
Strakka Racing driver Will Stevens was ninth fastest in the morning session, with Russian Sergey Sirotkin tenth in the second Fortec Motorsports machine.
In the afternoon it was Stockinger who once again led the way, with Strakka Racing’s Matias Lainé finishing second ahead of ISR Racing’s Jazeman Jaafar in third. Rowland, Nato and Vaxiviere followed, with International Draco Racing driver Luca Ghiotto in seventh.
Merhi, who for this weekend is the sole driver for Zeta Corse with his regular team-mate Roman Mavlanov racing in the International GT Series event at Monza, was eighth in the second session ahead of Pons Racing’s Oscar Tunjo, while Sirotkin once again rounded out the top ten.
Qualifying for race one takes place on Saturday morning, with the race following later in the day, with the second qualifying session and race two taking place on Sunday.
Paul Ricard Collective Test 1 Results
| POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Marlon Stockinger | PHI | Lotus | 1:48.905 |
| 2 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | FRA | Lotus | 1:49.232 |
| 3 | Oliver Rowland | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | 1:49.347 |
| 4 | Marco Sorensen | DEN | Tech 1 Racing | 1:49.653 |
| 5 | William Buller | GBR | Arden Motorsport | 1:49.658 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Arden Motorsport | 1:49.666 |
| 7 | Norman Nato | FRA | DAMS | 1:49.695 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz Jr | ESP | DAMS | 1:49.738 |
| 9 | Will Stevens | GBR | Strakka Racing | 1:49.752 |
| 10 | Sergey Sirotkin | RUS | Fortec Motorsports | 1:49.790 |
| 11 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Zeta Corse | 1:49.886 |
| 12 | Jazeman Jaafar | MAL | ISR | 1:49.937 |
| 13 | Matias Lainé | FIN | Strakka Racing | 1:49.980 |
| 14 | Luca Ghiotto | ITA | International Draco Racing | 1:50.202 |
| 15 | Meindert van Buuren | NED | Pons Racing | 1:50.316 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Comtec Racing | 1:50.432 |
| 17 | Pietro Fantin | BRZ | International Draco Racing | 1:50.454 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Tech 1 Racing | 1:50.869 |
| 19 | Oscar Tunjo | COL | Pons Racing | 1:50.917 |
| 20 | Beitske Visser | NED | AV Formula | 1:50.936 |
| 21 | Zoel Amberg | SWI | AV Formula | 1:51.752 |
| 22 | Cameron Twynham | GBR | Comtec Racing | 1:52.004 |
Paul Ricard Collective Test 2 Results
| POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Marlon Stockinger | PHI | Lotus | 1:48.523 |
| 2 | Matias Lainé | FIN | Strakka Racing | 1:48.619 |
| 3 | Jazeman Jaafar | MAL | ISR | 1:48.687 |
| 4 | Oliver Rowland | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | 1:48.742 |
| 5 | Norman Nato | FRA | DAMS | 1:48.764 |
| 6 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | FRA | Lotus | 1:48.790 |
| 7 | Luca Ghiotto | ITA | International Draco Racing | 1:48.812 |
| 8 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Zeta Corse | 1:48.876 |
| 9 | Oscar Tunjo | COL | Pons Racing | 1:49.025 |
| 10 | Sergey Sirotkin | RUS | Fortec Motorsports | 1:49.061 |
| 11 | William Buller | GBR | Arden Motorsport | 1:49.102 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz Jr | ESP | DAMS | 1:49.103 |
| 13 | Marco Sorensen | DEN | Tech 1 Racing | 1:49.105 |
| 14 | Will Stevens | GBR | Strakka Racing | 1:49.107 |
| 15 | Zoel Amberg | SWI | AV Formula | 1:49.111 |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Arden Motorsport | 1:49.207 |
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Tech 1 Racing | 1:49.372 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Comtec Racing | 1:49.385 |
| 19 | Meindert van Buuren | NED | Pons Racing | 1:50.027 |
| 20 | Beitske Visser | NED | AV Formula | 1:50.032 |
| 21 | Cameron Twynham | GBR | Comtec Racing | 1:51.001 |
| 22 | Pietro Fantin | BRZ | International Draco Racing | No Time |
