Matthieu Vaxiviere was fastest in both collective test sessions at the Hungaroring as the Formula Renault 3.5 Series weekend in Hungary got underway.
The Lotus driver set a best time of 1m29.514s in the afternoon session to set the outright pace of the day, but it was a close run thing, with the Frenchman just 0.023s faster than Jagonya Ayam with Carlin driver Tom Dillmann and 0.028s faster than Fortec Motorsports’ Oliver Rowland.
Jazeman Jaafar ended fourth fastest in the second Fortec machine despite missing the first session due to gearshift and then clutch problems, while Tio Ellinas completed the top five for Strakka Racing.
Egor Orudzhev was sixth fastest for Arden Motorsport ahead of Alexander Albon, who was deputising in the second Lotus in place of regular driver Meindert van Buuren. Van Buuren will return to the car when qualifying for race one gets underway on Saturday.
DAMS driver Nyck de Vries was eighth quickest on Friday, ahead of Sean Gelael of Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, while Pietro Fantin completed the top ten for International Draco Racing.
Gelael was responsible for a red flag during the afternoon, when he stopped on track at the first corner.
This weekend is the first Formula Renault 3.5 Series round since the controversial Low Downforce set-up ruling was dropped after two outings. Drivers are now free to set-up their cars as they wish for both races.
Hungaroring Collective Tests Results (Combined)
[table id=355 /]