Russian Egor Orudzhev set the pace on the opening day of the Formula V8 3.5 Series test at Motorland Aragon on Saturday ahead of a trio of French drivers.
The Arden Motorsport driver set a best time of 1m40.675s to pip Tom Dillmann of AVF by just 0.017s, with two more Frenchmen third and fourth, Matthieu Vaxiviere of SMP Racing ahead of Aurélien Panis of Arden Motorsport.
Just fifteen cars took to the track on day one, with Strakka Racing and Comtec Racing absent from proceedings, while the Durango Racing Team once again only ran one car for gentleman driver Giuseppe Cipriani.
The afternoon’s running saw the quicker of the two sessions, with Vaxiviere having set the pace during the morning with a best time of 1m40.760s, which was enough to beat Panis by 0.053s, with Dillmann and Orudzhev third and fourth.
Beitske Visser ended both sessions in fifth position as she tested for Teo Martin Motorsport, with the Dutch female driver ending 0.392s back in the morning and only 0.178s back in the afternoon.
Louis Deletraz and Yu Kanamaru also finished in the same positions in both sessions, with the Swiss driver placing his Fortec Motorsports car sixth and the Japanese racer finishing seventh in the second Teo Martin Motorsports machine.
Pietro Fittipaldi ended the morning session in eighth ahead of Lotus driver Roy Nissany, while Johnny Cecotto Jr completed the top ten for RP Motorsport. The same three drivers filled those positions in the afternoon, although Nissany and Fittipaldi switched places in the final standings.
Matevos Isaakyan ran with SMP Racing in place of fellow Russian Vladimir Atoev, who’s participation in next weekend’s opening race of the season is surely now in doubt.
Motorland Aragon Pre-Season Test Day 1 Morning Times
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Motorland Aragon Pre-Season Test Day 1 Afternoon Times
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