Photo: Fran?ois Flamand/DPPI
Matthieu Vaxiviere set the pace as the final round of the Formula Renault 3.5 season got underway at Jerez.
The Frenchman set a time of 1m28.823s to top the opening session of running at the Spanish circuit.
An encouraging second was Will Buller, who hasn’t finished a race higher than tenth since the first race of the season at Monza.
Matias Laine was third ahead of Buller’s Arden team-mate Pierre Gasly, who is chasing his maiden victory and the championship runner-up position this weekend.
Sergey Sirotkin was fifth ahead of Pietro Fantin, Meindert van Buuren and Marlon Stockinger.
Championship leader Carlos Sainz was ninth fastest. The Spaniard only needs to score six points on home soil to guarantee himself the title.
His rival Roberto Merhi didn’t enjoy a positive start to his weekend, finishing up 21st and last, 2.5 seconds off the pace.
Session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | Lotus | 1:28.823 | 20 | |
| 2 | Will Buller | Arden Motorsport | 1:29.018 | 0.195 | 18 |
| 3 | Matias Laine | Strakka Racing | 1:29.109 | 0.286 | 18 |
| 4 | Pierre Gasly | Arden Motorsport | 1:29.142 | 0.319 | 21 |
| 5 | Sergey Sirotkin | Fortec Motorsports | 1:29.282 | 0.459 | 22 |
| 6 | Pietro Fantin | International Draco Racing | 1:29.282 | 0.459 | 20 |
| 7 | Meindert van Buuren | Pons Racing | 1:29.295 | 0.472 | 17 |
| 8 | Marlon Stockinger | Lotus | 1:29.306 | 0.483 | 19 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | DAMS | 1:29.466 | 0.643 | 20 |
| 10 | Oliver Rowland | Fortec Motorsports | 1:29.635 | 0.812 | 22 |
| 11 | Nicholas Latifi | Tech 1 Racing | 1:29.717 | 0.894 | 19 |
| 12 | Norman Nato | DAMS | 1:29.771 | 0.948 | 21 |
| 13 | Jazeman Jaafar | ISR | 1:29.810 | 0.987 | 17 |
| 14 | Will Stevens | Strakka Racing | 1:29.968 | 1.145 | 20 |
| 15 | Beitske Visser | AVF | 1:29.969 | 1.146 | 22 |
| 16 | Marco S?rensen | Tech 1 Racing | 1:30.028 | 1.205 | 18 |
| 17 | Luca Ghiotto | International Draco Racing | 1:30.074 | 1.251 | 21 |
| 18 | Zoel Amberg | AVF | 1:30.215 | 1.392 | 20 |
| 19 | Oscar Tunjo | Pons Racing | 1:30.499 | 1.676 | 18 |
| 20 | Roman Mavlanov | Zeta Corse | 1:30.847 | 2.024 | 20 |
| 21 | Roberto Merhi | Zeta Corse | 1:31.377 | 2.554 | 15 |