25 March 2014
Fortec and DAMS set the pace at Jerez
Fortec Motorsports drivers dominated the Formula Renault 3.5 Series field during day two of collective testing at Jerez. Runner-up in the 2013 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship, Oliver Rowland set the day’s fastest time, ahead of his team-mate Sergey Sirotkin, Sauber F1 Team’s test driver, and Pierre Gasly (Arden Motorsport), his championship rival last year. In the afternoon, the DAMS team came to the fore as Carlos Sainz set the fastest time, followed by Norman Nato.
For the second day of collective testing at the Circuito de Jerez, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series teams and drivers enjoyed ideal weather conditions to continue to learn about the track.
Within a few minutes of the start of the session, Nigel Melker (ISR), Marlon Stöckinger (Lotus), Matthieu Vaxivière (Lotus) and William Buller (Arden Motorsport) were all fighting for the lead. Norman Nato was however the first to improve on yesterday’s fastest lap. After Marlon Stöckinger hit back, Jazeman Jaafar (ISR) and then Pierre Gasly grabbed the provisional lead. The reigning Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion nevertheless saw Oliver Rowland snatch top spot from him with a time of 1:25.396. The Racing Steps Foundation protégé held onto the lead until the end of the session, finishing ahead of Sergey Sirotkin, Pierre Gasly, Jazeman Jaafar and Carlos Sainz.
In the afternoon, Nikolay Martsenko (Comtec Racing) topped the timesheets before being knocked off his perch by Pierre Gasly. In the second half of the session, Oliver Rowland unseated the Frenchman before Sergey Sirotkin and Tio Ellinas (Tech 1 Racing) took it in turns to grab the lead. In the final hour, Carlos Sainz moved into first place but then Sergey Sirotkin and Tio Ellinas triggered a late surge of quick laps, with the DAMS drivers prevailing as Carlos Sainz finished ahead of Norman Nato. Sergey Sirotkin, Oliver Rowland and Tio Ellinas rounded off the top five.
The final day of Formula Renault 3.5 Series collective testing will take place tomorrow before the season gets underway on 11-13 April in Monza.
What they said:
Oliver Rowland: “I did a pretty good lap this morning, but there’s still a bit more to come. This afternoon, our pace on used tyres wasn’t that far off the pace set by the DAMS cars on new tyres. However, it’s testing and things will be different once the season gets underway. Let’s hope that with the experience of Sergey, I can learn from him and he can do the same and we can improve our performances. Tomorrow I’ll be focussing on doing a race simulation.”
Sergey Sirotkin: “The morning went very well. Unfortunately, I struggled with the traffic and was held off when I was on a very fast lap. So given the conditions, second place is a good result. In the afternoon, many drivers put on fresh tyres, but we didn’t. We did manage a couple of quick laps, but my other attempts were destroyed. It’s a shame because the tyres are very quick here for one or two laps, a bit like in F1. There’s no room for error.”
Pierre Gasly: : “This morning, we did a qualifying simulation with two sets of fresh tyres. It went pretty well, as I set the fastest time with the first set and the third fastest time with the second set. There are still a few things that could be improved, because I was two tenths down on my ideal lap time. In the afternoon, we did a race simulation to assess tyre degradation. There is around a two-second gap depending on the state of the tyres, which should make the races interesting.”
Carlos Sainz: “We tried a different set-up on the car in each session. I was pretty happy this morning so we were able to save tyres for the afternoon. It looks pretty good for the time being, but let’s see what happens tomorrow. The times should be more representative as all the drivers and the teams will have the same basis and objective.”
