Ferrari protege Raffaele Marciello leads Formula Renault 3.5 test
Ferrari junior driver Raffaele Marciello was quickest in both sessions on the first day of Formula Renault 3.5 testing at Aragon
This year's Formula 3 European champion's Strakka entry spent several spells at the top throughout the day, as he was able to respond every time somebody knocked him off of top spot.
In the morning session he took control halfway through and then continued to improve in the run up to the lunchbreak, while in the afternoon he appeared to have things well under control until a late serge from Lotus junior Esteban Ocon.
Ocon - who admitted he was tiring towards the end of the day - briefly appeared to have stolen the Italian's fire as he was the first driver to get into the 1m39s.
But he ended the test third as Marciello and Sauber 2014 Formula 1 prospect Sergey Sirotkin improved in the closing minutes.
FR Eurocup runner-up Oliver Rowland also showed good pace as he took fourth on the day, meaning Fortec Motorsports had two cars in the top four thanks to the Briton and Sirotkin.
Recent single-seater returnee Dean Stoneman was in action with Carlin and was 17th in the afternoon.
2011 Formula 2 champion Mirko Bortolotti also returned to single-seaters after winning this year's Eurocup Megane Trophy. The Italian drove for Draco and set the 22nd-fastest time.
Combined testing classification: Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Raffaele Marciello Strakka 1m39.258s 2. Sergey Sirotkin Fortec 1m39.841s +0.583s 3. Esteban Ocon Lotus 1m39.985s +0.727s 4. Oliver Rowland Fortec 1m40.022s +0.764s 5. Matias Laine Strakka 1m40.123s +0.865s 6. Zoel Amberg DAMS 1m40.375s +1.117s 7. Pietro Fantin Draco 1m40.412s +1.154s 8. Jack Aitken Arden Caterham 1m40.540s +1.282s 9. Luca Ghiotto Pons 1m40.778s +1.520s 10. Jazeman Jaafar Tech 1 1m40.847s +1.589s 11. Marlon Stockinger Lotus 1m40.881s +1.623s 12. Will Buller Arden Caterham 1m40.890s +1.632s 13. Alex Lynn DAMS 1m40.948s +1.690s 14. Mathieu Vaxiviere Pons 1m40.955s +1.697s 15. Pierre Gasly Tech 1 1m41.027s +1.769s 16. Felix Rosenqvist ISR 1m41.090s +1.832s 17. Dean Stoneman Carlin 1m41.183s +1.925s 18. Riccardo Agostini AV 1m41.226s +1.968s 19. Jake Dennis SMP/Comtec 1m41.342s +2.084s 20. Matt Parry Carlin 1m41.450s +2.192s 21. Nikolay Martsenko Zeta 1m41.510s +2.252s 22. Mirko Bortolotti Draco 1m41.596s +2.338s 23. Roman Mavlanov Zeta 1m41.839s +2.581s 24. Antonio Fuoco AV 1m41.994s +2.736s 25. Dennis Olsen SMP/Comtec 1m42.380s +3.122s 26. Andrea Pizzitola AV 1m42.812s +3.554s 27. Sandy Stuvik Zeta 1m44.252s +4.994s
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