Home News Stevens posts late flyer to lead opening FR3.5 practice at Aragon
NewsWorld Series Formula V8 3.5

Stevens posts late flyer to lead opening FR3.5 practice at Aragon

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
written by Valentin Khorounzhiy
Photo: Lorenzo Charlez / ASM

Photo: Lorenzo Charlez / ASM

Strakka Racing’s Will Stevens topped the first practice session ahead of Formula Renault 3.5’s second round at Motorland Aragon.

Stevens was the only driver to dip below 1:42s in the course of the 50-minute event.

Red Bull Junior Team duo Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly led most of the session up to the closing minutes, with Fortec’s Oliver Rowland taking over at the top with five to go.

However, he would not remain in the lead for long, as fellow Brit Will Buller slotted into the lead after three more minutes. Finally, it was yet another Briton Stevens who took charge, posting his benchmark with less than 20 seconds on the clock.

Gasly slotted into second under the flag, while Stevens managed to one-up his time, shaving off half a tenth and going beyond 1:42s.

Gasly’s Arden teammate Buller was close behind the Frenchman in third, ahead of Rowland and Sainz.

Matias Laine was sixth for Strakka, leading Lotus driver Marlon Stockinger and ISR’s Jazeman Jaafar. Another Lotus man Matthieu Vaxiviere was ninth, with Zoel Amberg rounding out the top ten.

Session results
Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Will Stevens Strakka Racing 1:41.970 11
2 Pierre Gasly Arden Motorsport 1:42.284 0.314 7
3 William Buller Arden Motorsport 1:42.292 0.322 8
4 Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 1:42.311 0.341 4
5 Carlos Sainz DAMS 1:42.425 0.455 1
6 Matias Laine Strakka Racing 1:42.591 0.621 12
7 Marlon Stockinger Lotus 1:42.779 0.809 15
8 Jazeman Jaafar ISR 1:42.798 0.828 17
9 Matthieu Vaxiviere Lotus 1:42.851 0.881 16
10 Zoel Amberg AVF 1:42.925 0.955 20
11 Sergey Sirotkin Fortec Motorsports 1:43.009 1.039 3
12 Marco Sorensen Tech 1 Racing 1:43.038 1.068 9
13 Norman Nato DAMS 1:43.040 1.070 2
14 Meindert van Buuren Pons Racing 1:43.151 1.181 26
15 Roberto Merhi Zeta Corse 1:43.218 1.248 22
16 Luca Ghiotto International Draco Racing 1:43.245 1.275 6
17 Roman Mavlanov Zeta Corse 1:43.501 1.531 21
18 Nikolay Martsenko Comtec Racing 1:43.686 1.716 27
19 Oliver Webb Pons Racing 1:43.751 1.781 25
20 Beitske Visser AVF 1:44.329 2.359 19
21 Pietro Fantin International Draco Racing 1:47.004 5.034 5