Photo: Ferran Mallol / AS Media
Matthieu Vaxiviere continued his imposing form in Formula Renault 3.5 at Aragon, topping the second of Friday’s pre-event sessions by over four tenths of a second.
The Lotus driver – who topped both pre-season test days at the Spanish circuit at the end of March and a total of four days over the winter – posted a time of 1m42.337s, three tenths slower than he had gone in the earlier session.
Vaxiviere took over at the top of the times from Fortec duo Jazeman Jaafar and Oliver Rowland, who were then split before the chequered flag by Strakka signing Tio Ellinas.
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion Nyck de Vries led for much of the session but ended up sixth, just behind his DAMS team-mate Dean Stoneman.
Tom Dillmann was seventh for the returning Carlin squad ahead of Arden rookie Egor Orudzhev, Draco returnee Pietro Fantin and AVF ace Beitske Visser.
Alfonso Celis and Roy Nissany triggered a red flag each, with the former getting back on track to take 15th at the end of the session while the latter propped up the 20 runners.
Session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | Lotus | 1:42.337 | 13 | |
| 2 | Jazeman Jaafar | Fortec Motorsports | 1:42.767 | 0.430 | 14 |
| 3 | Tio Ellinas | Strakka Racing | 1:42.805 | 0.468 | 15 |
| 4 | Oliver Rowland | Fortec Motorsports | 1:42.820 | 0.483 | 14 |
| 5 | Dean Stoneman | DAMS | 1:42.914 | 0.577 | 16 |
| 6 | Nyck de Vries | DAMS | 1:43.145 | 0.808 | 14 |
| 7 | Tom Dillmann | Carlin | 1:43.183 | 0.846 | 15 |
| 8 | Egor Orudzhev | Arden Motorsport | 1:43.230 | 0.893 | 18 |
| 9 | Pietro Fantin | International Draco Racing | 1:43.256 | 0.919 | 18 |
| 10 | Beitske Visser | AVF | 1:43.332 | 0.995 | 16 |
| 11 | Gustav Malja | Strakka Racing | 1:43.334 | 0.997 | 14 |
| 12 | Meindert van Buuren | Lotus | 1:43.362 | 1.025 | 14 |
| 13 | Nicholas Latifi | Arden Motorsport | 1:43.582 | 1.245 | 15 |
| 14 | Roberto Merhi | Pons Racing | 1:43.887 | 1.550 | 14 |
| 15 | Alfonso Celis | AVF | 1:43.973 | 1.636 | 10 |
| 16 | Sean Gelael | Carlin | 1:44.114 | 1.777 | 17 |
| 17 | Philo Paz Armand | Pons Racing | 1:44.261 | 1.924 | 16 |
| 18 | Aurelien Panis | Tech 1 Racing | 1:44.358 | 2.021 | 11 |
| 19 | Bruno Bonifacio | International Draco Racing | 1:44.703 | 2.366 | 17 |
| 20 | Roy Nissany | Tech 1 Racing | 1:45.701 | 3.364 | 12 |