WS: Valsecchi the star of the morning (+results)

WS: Valsecchi the star of the morning (+results)

The World Series Formula Renault 3.5 teams continued their pre-season preparations at the Barcelona circuit today with a second day of collective testing.

Davide Valsecchi (Epsilon Euskadi) took the best overall time in the morning, with Mikhail Aleshin (Carlin Motorsport) and Alvaro Parente (Tech 1 Racing) completing the top three in the first session.

After a fairly quiet first day with relatively few stoppages for accidents, the red flags came out frequently today. The drivers came through unscathed, but the mechanics had their work cut out!

Epsilon Euskadi's drivers put on a fine display this morning and it looks like the Basque team is back to its form of two years ago. Filipe Albuquerque and Davide Valsecchi regularly overtook one another at the head of the pack but it was the Italian who had the last word, just after 10.30 a.m.

"The car was really fast and easy to drive," said Valsecchi. "We put a lot of work in yesterday and we saw the results of that today. This result gives me confidence for the next tests... and the first race at Monza."

Most of the teams finished their testing quite early. Several of the top outfits - Prema Powerteam, KTR, Carlin Motorsport and Red Devil Comtec - started packing up in the afternoon.

For Carlin, S?©bastien Buemi performed solidly in his first outing in a Formula Renault 3.5 : "It was good to drive the car for the first time", he said. "I only used two sets of fresh tyres, which left one for Sebastian Vettel. This car reminds me of a big F3 car, with more power but more grip too. The only difference is the carbon brakes. It took me a while to get used to those."

The best time of the afternoon was set by Alvaro Parente, putting Tech 1 Racing's name at the top of timing screens for the first time. "It was a nice surprise, because the car and I are still getting to know each other," said Parente. "Throughout the two days we've tried to adapt the car to my driving style and we've been competitive in all conditions. It augurs well for the rest of the season."

Filipe Albuquerque was another driver pleased with his day's work: "I'm almost surprised to be consistently in the top two or three, as I feel I've still got a lot of room for improvement," he said. "I can't wait for the N??rburgring, another one of my favourite circuits."

The next test session will be held at the German circuit on March 27th and 28th.

Results

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