Thai driver Alexander Albon set the fastest time for Lotus on the opening day of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series test at the Aragon circuit in Spain.
The McLaren BRDC Award finalist set his best time of the day of 1:41.629s in the morning session to pip Swede Gustav Malja of Zeta Corse by 0.096s who set his personal best time in the afternoon.
Zeta Corse were back in action with Malja and Louis Deletraz after missing the post-Jerez test, but ISR Racing are absent from proceedings this week after only running one car during the whole of the 2014 season.
Nicholas Latifi was third for Arden Motorsport ahead of part-time 2014 GP2 racer Tio Ellinas, who was testing with the Silverstone-based Strakka Racing team for the first time. Ellinas’ best time was only 0.001s faster than Pietro Fantin, who continues to test with the International Draco Racing team with the Brazilian expected to remain with the team for a second season in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2015.
Egor Orudzhev was sixth fastest for Arden Motorsport despite only taking part in the opening session after the team gave Charles Leclerc the morning session, with the Monegasque driver finishing tenth fastest overall on the day.
Beitske Visser was seventh fastest for AVF ahead of Jazeman Jaafar, who ran the day driving for the 2014 Teams’ Champions DAMS, while the second Lotus of Frenchman Andrea Pizzitola was ninth ahead of Leclerc.
A number of the drivers had been invited to the test by Renault Sport as a result of their achievements during 2014, including Albon and Leclerc, including Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series Champion Nyck de Vries (DAMS), Formula Renault 2.0 NEC champion Ben Barnicoat (Fortec Motorsports) and EuroFormula Open champion Sandy Stuvik (Pons Racing).
Aragon Test Day 1 Times
| POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | Session 1 | Session 2 |
| 1 | Alexander Albon | THA | Lotus | 1:41.629 | 1:41.792 |
| 2 | Gustav Malja | SWE | Zeta Corse | 1:43.081 | 1:41.725 |
| 3 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Arden Motorsport | 1:42.288 | 1:41.744 |
| 4 | Tio Ellinas | CYP | Strakka Racing | 1:42.274 | 1:41.826 |
| 5 | Pietro Fantin | BRZ | International Draco Racing | 1:41.827 | 1:41.890 |
| 6 | Egor Orudzhev | RUS | Arden Motorsport | – | 1:41.878 |
| 7 | Beitske Visser | NED | AVF | 1:42.019 | 1:41.928 |
| 8 | Jazeman Jaafar | MAL | DAMS | 1:42.379 | 1:42.027 |
| 9 | Andrea Pizzitola | FRA | Lotus | 1:42.048 | 1:42.034 |
| 10 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Arden Motorsport | 1:42.046 | – |
| 11 | Louis Deletraz | SWI | Zeta Corse | 1:42.067 | 1:42.982 |
| 12 | Jann Mardenborough | GBR | Tech 1 Racing | 1:42.865 | 1:42.093 |
| 13 | Dennis Olsen | NOR | Strakka Racing | 1:42.128 | 1:42.147 |
| 14 | Nyck de Vries | NED | DAMS | 1:42.467 | 1:42.205 |
| 15 | Matevos Isaakyan | RUS | AVF | 1:42.442 | 1:42.697 |
| 16 | Seb Morris | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | 1:42.481 | 1:42.690 |
| 17 | Bruno Bonifacio | BRZ | International Draco Racing | 1:43.012 | 1:42.547 |
| 18 | Sandy Stuvik | THA | Pons Racing | 1:42.556 | 1:42.903 |
| 19 | Ben Barnicoat | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | 1:42.689 | 1:42.982 |
| 20 | Indy Dontje | NED | Comtec Racing | 1:43.324 | 1:43.031 |
| 21 | Luis Sa Silva | MAC | Pons Racing | 1:43.796 | 1:43.380 |
| 22 | Guillaume Cunnington | FRA | Tech 1 Racing | – | 1:51.744 |
