Photo: Renault Sport
Matthieu Vaxiviere remained at the head of the Formula Renault 3.5 field as the first day of the Formula Renault 3.5 test at Aragon came to an end.
After setting the pace in the morning, the Lotus team’s driver went back to the top of the times in the closing stages of the day and, as the majority of the field set their best times at the chequered flag, lowered his benchmark to a 1m40.635s.
Second-placed Dean Stoneman was one of those to improve at the end, but the new Red Bull Junior was over half a second down on Vaxiviere.
Egor Orudzhev got up to third at the close of the session for Arden ahead of Fortec’s Jazeman Jaafar and Strakka’s Jerez test pace-setter Tio Ellinas.
As in the morning, Tom Dillmann led the times for a while before ending up sixth for Carlin. Vaxiviere’s new team-mate Meindert van Buuren was seventh in front of the second Strakka driver Gustav Malja, Draco’s Bruno Bonifacio and pre-season title favourite Oliver Rowland, who was a second off the pace in tenth.
The late stoppage was triggered by the afternoon’s slowest runner, Philo Paz Armand.
Afternoon session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | Lotus | 1:40.635 | 16 | |
| 2 | Dean Stoneman | DAMS | 1:41.152 | 0.517 | 28 |
| 3 | Egor Orudzhev | Arden Motorsport | 1:41.295 | 0.660 | 22 |
| 4 | Jazeman Jaafar | Fortec Motorsports | 1:41.452 | 0.817 | 25 |
| 5 | Tio Ellinas | Strakka Racing | 1:41.457 | 0.822 | 35 |
| 6 | Tom Dillmann | Carlin | 1:41.509 | 0.874 | 25 |
| 7 | Meindert van Buuren | Lotus | 1:41.525 | 0.890 | 23 |
| 8 | Gustav Malja | Strakka Racing | 1:41.545 | 0.910 | 41 |
| 9 | Bruno Bonifacio | International Draco Racing | 1:41.615 | 0.980 | 20 |
| 10 | Oliver Rowland | Fortec Motorsports | 1:41.651 | 1.016 | 21 |
| 11 | Pietro Fantin | International Draco Racing | 1:41.698 | 1.063 | 35 |
| 12 | Beitske Visser | AVF | 1:41.851 | 1.216 | 21 |
| 13 | Roberto Merhi | Pons Racing | 1:41.867 | 1.232 | 30 |
| 14 | Sean Gelael | Carlin | 1:42.281 | 1.646 | 29 |
| 15 | Nicholas Latifi | Arden Motorsport | 1:42.351 | 1.716 | 29 |
| 16 | Alfonso Celis | AVF | 1:42.494 | 1.859 | 31 |
| 17 | Nyck de Vries | DAMS | 1:42.526 | 1.891 | 31 |
| 18 | Roman Mavlanov | Zeta Corse | 1:42.597 | 1.962 | 25 |
| 19 | Aurelien Panis | Tech 1 Racing | 1:42.658 | 2.023 | 38 |
| 20 | Roy Nissany | Tech 1 Racing | 1:42.820 | 2.185 | 31 |
| 21 | Philo Paz Armand | Pons Racing | 1:44.871 | 4.236 | 24 |