Photo: Diederik van der Laan / Dutch Photo Agency / LAT Photographic
Lando Norris?edged out fellow Briton?Harrison Scott?to lead the first day of the final Eurocup Formula Renault pre-season test at Motorland Aragon ahead of next weekend’s opening round.
AVF driver Scott had been quickest in the morning with a time of 1m56.507s, 0.026s ahead of Tech 1’s former Formula 3 driver?Dorian Boccolacci.
Norris, who was quickest in the last test at Paul Ricard, posted a 1m55.860s to top?the afternoon, with Scott falling 0.047s short.
Josef Kaufmann Racing driver Norris explained that a growth spurt had made for a harder start to the day.
He said: ?We struggled a bit this morning. Basically, I’ve grown up a bit and I wasn?t comfortable in the Formula Renault 2.0. I also needed some time to get used to it again after the BRDC British F3 meeting. In the afternoon, we made it so I could push like I usually do on the three final runs, despite the wind that complicated matters.”
Scott said he’s been pleased with his progress over the pre-season period: ?It was a really positive day. During the tests in February, I hadn?t driven the car for several months. We could thus measure our huge progress; the pace was good all day whether on new, fresh or used tyres. We were right in the pace at Circuit Paul Ricard and here as well.?
Boccolacci was third in the afternoon ahead of Scott’s AVF team-mate?Henrique Chaves. R-ace GP drivers?Julien Falchero and?Will Palmer?in fifth and eighth sandwiched Norris’ stable-mates?Jehan Daruvala and?Robert Shwartzman, while?their own team-mate?Max Defourny was sidelined by neck pain.
An addition to the line-up for this test was former Koiranen driver?Philip Hamprecht?joining Cram Motorsport, taking 14th in the times.
Combined day one times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Session 1 | Session 2 |
| 1 | Lando Norris | Josef Kauffmann Racing | 1:57.780 | 1:55.860 |
| 2 | Harrison Scott | AVF | 1:56.704 | 1:55.907 |
| 3 | Dorian Boccolacci | Tech 1 Racing | 1:56.730 | 1:56.016 |
| 4 | Henrique Chaves | AVF | 1:57.647 | 1:56.281 |
| 5 | Julien Falchero | R-ace GP | 1:57.075 | 1:56.312 |
| 6 | Jehan Daruvala | Josef Kauffmann Racing | 1:57.490 | 1:56.351 |
| 7 | Robert Shwartzman | Josef Kauffmann Racing | 1:57.638 | 1:56.536 |
| 8 | Will Palmer | R-ace GP | 1:57.146 | 1:56.577 |
| 9 | Hugo de Sadeleer | Tech 1 Racing | 1:57.610 | 1:56.618 |
| 10 | Sacha Fenestraz | Tech 1 Racing | 1:57.233 | 1:56.745 |
| 11 | Ferdinand Habsburg | Fortec Motorsports | 1:57.307 | 1:56.849 |
| 12 | Alexey Korneev | JD Motorsport | 1:57.167 | 1:56.864 |
| 13 | Gabriel Aubry | Tech 1 Racing | 1:56.963 | 1:56.938 |
| 14 | Philip Hamprecht | Cram Motorsport | 1:57.792 | 1:57.042 |
| 15 | Vasily Romanov | Fortec Motorsports | 1:58.030 | 1:57.080 |
| 16 | James Allen | JD Motorsport | 1:57.442 | 1:57.322 |
| 17 | Nerses Isaakyan | AVF | 1:57.769 | 1:57.427 |
| 18 | Rodrigo Pflucker | Cram Motorsport | 1:57.781 | 1:57.571 |
| 19 | Bruno Baptista | Fortec Motorsports | 1:58.330 | 1:57.804 |
| 20 | David Porcelli | MGR Motorsport | 1:58.550 | 1:58.076 |
| 21 | David Richert | Cram Motorsport | 1:59.553 | 1:58.982 |
| 22 | Julia Pankiewicz | AVF | 2:00.534 | 1:59.278 |