Photo: Florent Gooden/ DPPI
Pietro Fantin set the pace in the opening session of Formula Renault 3.5 post-season testing at Jerez, followed closely by debutant Alex Fontana.
Continuing with the Draco team with which he finished 15th in the 2014 standings, the Brazilian – who set the fastest lap in both races at Jerez at the weekend – posted a time of 1m27.915s.
Just 0.062s slower on his final lap of the session was Fontana, who was having his first drive in a Formula Renault 3.5 car with the Lotus-branded Charouz team. A tenth behind him in third was regular Lotus driver Matthieu Vaxiviere.
Nicholas Latifi continued the strong pace that saw him finish second in the season finale, setting the fourth best time for Strakka. Luca Ghiotto was fifth with Fortec while AVF racer Beitske Visser took sixth.
Jordan King was seventh for Arden ahead of Pons-contacted Oscar Tunjo. Double FR2.0 champion Nyck de Vries was ninth quickest on his first drive of an FR3.5 car, in the ex-Carlos Sainz DAMS machine he will race in 2015.
His rival Dennis Olsen completed the top ten in the second Strakka entry.
Session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Pietro Fantin | International Draco Racing | 1:27.915 | 44 | |
| 2 | Alex Fontana | Lotus | 1:27.977 | 0.062 | 30 |
| 3 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | Lotus | 1:28.071 | 0.156 | 28 |
| 4 | Nicholas Latifi | Strakka Racing | 1:28.160 | 0.245 | 30 |
| 5 | Luca Ghiotto | Fortec Motorsports | 1:28.206 | 0.291 | 28 |
| 6 | Beitske Visser | AVF | 1:28.259 | 0.344 | 36 |
| 7 | Jordan King | Arden Motorsport | 1:28.433 | 0.518 | 39 |
| 8 | Oscar Tunjo | Pons Racing | 1:28.452 | 0.537 | 43 |
| 9 | Nyck de Vries | DAMS | 1:28.804 | 0.889 | 31 |
| 10 | Dennis Olsen | Strakka Racing | 1:28.823 | 0.908 | 39 |
| 11 | Steijn Schothorst | Comtec Racing | 1:28.916 | 1.001 | 32 |
| 12 | Richard Gonda | Tech 1 Racing | 1:28.921 | 1.006 | 39 |
| 13 | Bruno Bonifacio | International Draco Racing | 1:28.936 | 1.021 | 41 |
| 14 | Egor Orudzhev | Fortec Motorsports | 1:28.978 | 1.063 | 40 |
| 15 | Robert Visoiu | Pons Racing | 1:29.035 | 1.120 | 32 |
| 16 | Gustav Malja | ISR | 1:29.086 | 1.171 | 39 |
| 17 | Andrea Pizzitola | ISR | 1:29.554 | 1.639 | 44 |
| 18 | Dean Stoneman | Arden Motorsport | 1:29.625 | 1.710 | 22 |
| 19 | Jimmy Eriksson | DAMS | 1:29.992 | 2.077 | 35 |