Photo: World Series by Renault
Portuguese driver Antonio Felix da Costa continued to prove his title favourite status by emerging as the quickest man in the second practice session of the Formula Renault 3.5 season opener at Monza.
The Red Bull junior was on top of the timing screens for most of the session, but had to go out and improve after his time was beaten by Norman Nato. Under improving conditions, many more racers managed to put in quicker laps, with Felix da Costa being one of them, setting another benchmark as the session was cut short due to a red flag.
Formula Renault 2.0 champion Stoffel Vandoorne was second, while Christopher Zanella beat Nato to third. P1’s Will Stevens bested Nigel Melker and Kevin Magnussen to round out the top five, while Lucas Foresti completed the top ten behind rookies Matias Laine and Sergey Sirotkin.
The qualifying session for race one is scheduled to take place tomorrow morning, just four hours before the race itself.
Session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Arden Caterham | 1:49.551 | 24 | |
| 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Fortec Motorsports | 1:49.928 | 0.377 | 23 |
| 3 | Christopher Zanella | ISR | 1:49.975 | 0.424 | 25 |
| 4 | Norman Nato | DAMS | 1:50.073 | 0.522 | 18 |
| 5 | Will Stevens | P1 Motorsport | 1:50.131 | 0.580 | 21 |
| 6 | Nigel Melker | Tech 1 Racing | 1:50.313 | 0.762 | 23 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | DAMS | 1:50.450 | 0.899 | 22 |
| 8 | Matias Laine | P1 Motorsport | 1:50.592 | 1.041 | 18 |
| 9 | Sergey Sirotkin | ISR | 1:50.719 | 1.168 | 23 |
| 10 | Lucas Foresti | SMP Racing by Comtec | 1:50.719 | 1.168 | 23 |
| 11 | Pietro Fantin | Arden Caterham | 1:50.721 | 1.170 | 22 |
| 12 | Oliver Webb | Fortec Motorsports | 1:50.806 | 1.255 | 25 |
| 13 | Andre Negrao | International Draco Racing | 1:50.923 | 1.372 | 23 |
| 14 | Jazeman Jaafar | Carlin | 1:51.151 | 1.600 | 25 |
| 15 | Zoel Amberg | Pons Racing | 1:51.282 | 1.731 | 18 |
| 16 | Marco Sorensen | Lotus | 1:51.430 | 1.879 | 20 |
| 17 | Marlon Stockinger | Lotus | 1:51.529 | 1.978 | 26 |
| 18 | Mikhail Aleshin | Tech 1 Racing | 1:51.783 | 2.232 | 12 |
| 19 | Daniil Move | SMP Racing by Comtec | 1:52.194 | 2.643 | 18 |
| 20 | Carlos Huertas | Carlin | 1:52.298 | 2.747 | 24 |
| 21 | Nico Muller | International Draco Racing | 1:52.374 | 2.823 | 13 |
| 22 | Arthur Pic | AV Formula | 1:52.480 | 2.929 | 18 |
| 23 | Mihai Marinescu | Zeta Corse | 1:52.576 | 3.025 | 23 |
| 24 | Yann Cunha | AV Formula | 1:52.593 | 3.042 | 21 |
| 25 | Emmanuel Piget | Zeta Corse | 1:52.614 | 3.063 | 22 |
| 26 | Nikolay Martsenko | Pons Racing | 1:57.352 | 7.801 | 7 |