Felix da Costa fires back at Vandoorne on day two

Photo: World Series by Renault

Antonio Felix da Costa and Stoffel Vandoorne were again the quickest men in Formula Renault 3.5 Series testing at Paul Ricard, except it was the former on top on Saturday.

The Red Bull Junior posted the best time in both the morning and afternoon. Just as on Friday, the day began on a wet track, and as slicks came into play approaching lunchtime, Felix da Costa put in the quickest lap.

That had him a second clear of Lotus driver Marco Sorensen, with Zoel Amberg a surprise third, another second back. Sam Bird, Jazeman Jaafar and Oliver Webb were next, with the top ten completed by Pietro Fantin, Marlon Stockinger, Sergey Sirotkin and Vandoorne.

Into the afternoon with the sun shining, Arthur Pic, Bird and Sorensen traded fastest times early on, as the majority of the session was spent focussing on race simulations before the chance for qualifying runs at the end.

Felix da Costa put in the fastest time of the test, half a second ahead of Vandoorne. Pic wound up third, seven tenths away from P1.

?For various reasons, I didn?t do much driving yesterday or this morning, so I didn?t really have a benchmark when I went out this afternoon,? said the Frenchman. ?As my times showed, I was having a lot of fun and that is comforting.

?We were on a minimum programme this week and got down to the basics, while leaving a few other jobs for the Barcelona tests. The team has only just been set up and I need to build up the best possible understanding with my engineer. That said, everything?s in place and we all feel we can do even better yet. It?s all very encouraging.?

Kevin Magnussen was close behind Pic in fourth place, and seemed happy enough even if rivals Felix da Costa and Vandoorne are grabbing the headlines.

?We were fast in the wet and the dry, which is very satisfying, though we can?t stop there,? said the Dane. ?We tested a few different set-ups. Some were good, others not so good. We were looking for performance in the afternoon and worked on our starts and pit stops, and there?s room for improvement in every area.?

Bird rounded out the top five ahead of Sorensen, with Draco pairing Nico Muller and Andre Negrao seventh and eighth ahead of Norman Nato and Lucas Foresti.

Morning session

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Afternoon session