26 March 2014
Pietro Fantin finishes testing in style
The final day of Formula Renault 3.5 Series collective testing went the way of Pietro Fantin (International Draco Racing). On the Circuito de Jerez, the Brazilian set the day’s fastest time, finishing ahead of Sergey Sirotkin (Fortec Motorsports), who went quickest in the afternoon, and Pierre Gasly (Arden Motorsport). Off the pace today, Oliver Rowland (Fortec Motorsports) nonetheless comes away from Jerez having set the overall best performance yesterday. The tone is set ahead of the opening round of the season in Monza.
Once again greeted by ideal conditions, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series drivers and teams were able to use this final day of testing to fine-tune and finish off their preparations ahead of the first race in 2014.
The morning session was very animated right from the word go. In the first half hour, no fewer than nine different drivers held the fastest lap. Nikolay Martsenko (Comtec Racing) emerged in the lead before the session was halted following an incident involving Zoël Amberg (AVF). When the session resumed, first Marlon Stöckinger (Lotus) and then Pierre Gasly moved into the lead, before Pietro Fantin took his single-seater to the top of the timesheets. His lap of 1:25.945 put him ahead of Sergey Sirotkin, Pierre Gasly, Marco Sørensen (Tech 1 Racing) and Nikolay Martsenko. At the end of the morning session, the top sixteen drivers were split by only five tenths of a second.
In the early stages of the afternoon, the Lotus drivers Matthieu Vaxivière and Marlon Stöckinger battled it out for the lead, the Filipino driver prevailing. In the final hour of the session, the lap times started to tumble, driven by the efforts of Norman Nato (DAMS), Pierre Gasly, Sergey Sirotkin and Tio Ellinas (Pons Racing). The Russian Sauber F1 Team test driver managed to get the better of Tio Ellinas, Zoël Amberg, Pierre Gasly and Norman Nato. The session saw also a significant announcement from the AVF team: Adrian Valles’ team confirmed it was handing a drive to Beitske Visser, who finished eighth this afternoon, meaning the Dutch driver is set to become the first woman to compete in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series since Pippa Mann in 2008.
The next meeting of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series will now be held at Monza, kicking off season ten of the World Series by Renault, on 11-13 April.
What they said:
Pietro Fantin: “I’m thrilled to finish the tests like this because we didn’t make a very good start. On Monday, we had a lot of understeer before making good progress yesterday. The changes we made helped us to get back to our true level. Once we had done that, I was able to up my pace and use the new tyres more effectively.”
Marco Sørensen: “We had a bit of difficulty adapting the set-up to my driving style. That was the main problem during the first two days at Jerez. However, we made a big step forward last night to improve our performances. From now on, I’m sure we’ll be closer to the leading positions, as should be the case.”
Beitske Visser: “Compared with last year, it’s a big step up. The Formula Renault 3.5 is five times more powerful; there is a lot more downforce and therefore a lot more to learn. Physically, it’s still a bit difficult, but I’m working hard with the engineers to understand the car and improve each day. There’s still plenty of room for improvement!”
Tio Ellinas: “I had to get to grips with a new car, new tyres – everything was new. It is one of the best cars I have ever driven. You can release the brakes earlier and there is a lot more downforce than on any other car I have ever driven. You can carry so much more speed into the corners... It was a bit tricky adapting my driving style whilst also getting used to two different settings, but now we’ll see if my results are enough to secure me a programme for this year.”
