Photo: Renault Sport Media
Strakka Racing’s Tio Ellinas has now topped two sessions out of three in the Formula Renault 3.5 pre-season test at Jerez.
Thursday’s pacesetter led most of the morning session, finishing more than a quarter of a second clear of the rest.
Matthieu Vaxiviere, who set the pace for much of the post-season testing but struggled yesterday, recovered to take second.
Tom Dillmann of Carlin took third from Beitske Visser in the penultimate hour of the running as the Dutch driver picked up fourth in spite of a mid-session trip to the gravel.
Jazeman Jaafar led the Fortec charge in fifth, ahead of newcomer Gustav Malja and Pietro Fantin, who made up the list of drivers within one second of Ellinas.
Johnny Cecotto, Meindert van Buuren and Nyck de Vries completed the top ten.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Tio Ellinas | Strakka Racing | 1:28.260 | 37 | |
| 2 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | Lotus | 1:28.520 | 0.260 | 19 |
| 3 | Tom Dillmann | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:28.680 | 0.420 | 33 |
| 4 | Beitske Visser | AVF | 1:28.718 | 0.458 | 31 |
| 5 | Jazeman Jaafar | Fortec Motorsports | 1:28.957 | 0.697 | 32 |
| 6 | Gustav Malja | Strakka Racing | 1:29.102 | 0.842 | 39 |
| 7 | Pietro Fantin | International Draco Racing | 1:29.216 | 0.956 | 41 |
| 8 | Johnny Cecotto | Zeta Corse | 1:29.601 | 1.341 | 37 |
| 9 | Meindert van Buuren | Lotus | 1:29.893 | 1.633 | 25 |
| 10 | Nyck de Vries | DAMS | 1:29.921 | 1.661 | 43 |
| 11 | Facu Regalia | Zeta Corse | 1:30.107 | 1.847 | 38 |
| 12 | Oliver Rowland | Fortec Motorsports | 1:30.260 | 2.000 | 29 |
| 13 | Egor Orudzhev | Arden Motorsport | 1:30.325 | 2.065 | 36 |
| 14 | Nicholas Latifi | Arden Motorsport | 1:30.375 | 2.115 | 16 |
| 15 | Sean Gelael | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:30.378 | 2.118 | 33 |
| 16 | Alfonso Celis | AVF | 1:30.456 | 2.196 | 40 |
| 17 | Bruno Bonifacio | International Draco Racing | 1:30.730 | 2.470 | 31 |
| 18 | Patric Armand | Pons Racing | 1:31.140 | 2.880 | 36 |
| 19 | Dean Stoneman | DAMS | 1:31.230 | 2.970 | 22 |
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Pons Racing | 1:31.519 | 3.259 | 31 |
| 21 | Aurelien Panis | Tech 1 Racing | 1:32.058 | 3.798 | 44 |
| 22 | Roy Nissany | Tech 1 Racing | 1:36.620 | 8.360 | 8 |