Yifei Ye began Formula Renault Eurocup pre-season testing by topping both sessions on day one at Hockenheim.
The Chinese driver, who is set to stay with Josef Kaufmann Racing for a second season this year, replicated his dominant form from the Northern European Cup event at the German circuit last October when he beat Eurocup champion to-be Sacha Fenestraz to win both races.
Ye topped the morning session with a 1m37.892s, already underneath the time set by Kevin Korjus when he won twice on the Eurocup’s last visit to Hockenheim in 2010.
He hit the top again late in the afternoon session, this time with a 1m37.004s.
That was enough to beat new Renault Sport Academy recruit Victor Martins by 0.038 seconds.
Ye’s team-mate Richard Verschoor was third, 0.09s slower, with Martins’ R-ace GP colleague Logan Sargeant rounding out the top four.
Alexander Vartanyan was fifth for Arden ahead of another R-ace GP man Charles Milesi.
Renault protege Christian Lundgaard led MP Motorsport team-mate Alex Peroni in seventh and eighth, with Alexander Smolyar ninth and Oscar Piastri 10th.
Vartyanyan had been second in the morning, 0.156s behind Ye, ahead of Sargeant and Smolyar.
Red Bull Junior and late-2017 testing pace-setter Neil Verhagen was fifth in the morning but only 17th in the afternoon.
Day one testing times
| Pos | Name | Team | Morning | Afternoon |
| 1 | Yifei Ye | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 1:37.892 | 1:37.004 |
| 2 | Victor Martins | R-ace GP | 1:39.351 | 1:37.042 |
| 3 | Richard Verschoor | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 1:38.560 | 1:37.094 |
| 4 | Logan Sargeant | R-ace GP | 1:38.333 | 1:37.217 |
| 5 | Alexander Vartanyan | Arden | 1:38.048 | 1:37.263 |
| 6 | Charles Milesi | R-ace GP | 1:38.581 | 1:37.366 |
| 7 | Christian Lundgaard | MP Motorsport | 1:51.830 | 1:37.451 |
| 8 | Alex Peroni | MP Motorsport | 1:39.878 | 1:37.595 |
| 9 | Alexander Smolyar | Tech 1 Racing | 1:38.411 | 1:37.627 |
| 10 | Oscar Piastri | Arden | 1:38.812 | 1:37.652 |
| 11 | Clement Novalak | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 1:39.238 | 1:37.710 |
| 12 | Max Fewtrell | R-ace GP | 1:38.972 | 1:37.924 |
| 13 | Lorenzo Colombo | JD Motorsport | 1:39.114 | 1:37.937 |
| 14 | Arthur Rougier | JD Motorsport | 1:39.512 | 1:38.022 |
| 15 | Frank Bird | Tech 1 Racing | 1:39.461 | 1:38.061 |
| 16 | Xavier Lloveras | AVF | 1:40.219 | 1:38.134 |
| 17 | Neil Verhagen | Tech 1 Racing | 1:38.446 | 1:38.279 |
| 18 | Eliseo Martinez | AVF | 1:40.510 | 1:38.311 |
| 19 | Vladimir Tziortzis | JD Motorsport | 1:40.532 | 1:38.397 |
| 20 | Thomas Maxwell | JD Motorsport | 1:39.814 | 1:38.476 |
| 21 | Sami Taoufik | Arden | 1:40.082 | 1:38.742 |
| 22 | Raul Guzman | JD Motorsport | 1:47.758 | 1:38.821 |
| 23 | Christian Munoz | AVF | 1:40.596 | 1:38.928 |
| 24 | Phil Hill | Anders Motorsport | 1:42.078 | 1:39.047 |
| 25 | Max Defourny | MP Motorsport | 1:57.019 | 1:39.152 |
| 26 | Axel Matus | AVF | 1:40.691 | 1:39.220 |
| 27 | Thomas Neubauer | Tech 1 Racing | 1:39.319 | 1:39.227 |
| 28 | Najiy Razak | JD Motorsport | 1:40.691 | 1:39.228 |
| 29 | Jordan Cane | Fortec Motorsports | 1:39.615 | 1:40.150 |