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Aragon Formula Renault 3.5: Lotus's Vaxiviere tops Friday practice

Pre-season pacesetter Matthieu Vaxiviere transferred his testing form into Friday practice for the Formula Renault 3.5 opener at Aragon

The Lotus Formula 1 Junior driver was quickest on both high-downforce in free practice one, and the mandatory low-downforce settings in the afternoon session.

Vaxiviere recorded a lap of 1m42.013s in the morning to hold off Swedish newcomer Gustav Malja's Strakka entry by 0.007 seconds.

AVF's Beitske Visser, who had also been quick in testing, took third in practice one, finishing 0.070s shy of the benchmark time.

Vaxiviere extended his advantage over the opposition to a more comfortable 0.430s in practice two, in which his fastest lap was 1m42.337s.

Fortec's Jazeman Jaafar took second spot, ahead of the second Strakka car of Tio Ellinas.

"It wasn't so good this morning," said Vaxiviere. "I did two or three mistakes on my quickest lap.

"We also had some problem with the radio, but anyway it's fine to be P1. I didn't really care if I was P20 or P1 today, as we needed to work for the quali."

Pietro Fantin, forming half of Draco's all-Brazilian line-up, was fourth fastest in the morning, ahead of reigning Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup champion Nyck de Vries. The latter is sporting a contemporary McLaren F1-style livery on his DAMS machine in deference to his backer.

Jaafar completed the top six in practice one, ahead of Ellinas and Mexican Alfonso Celis Jr.

Two red flags were caused by Celis hitting trouble. The AVF car stopped at Turn 1 in the morning, and made an excursion into the Turn 5 gravel during second practice.

Manor F1 driver Roberto Merhi also caused a stoppage when his Pons mount encountered electrical difficulties in the morning.

INTERVIEW: Why is an F1 driver racing in FR3.5?

Merhi was optimistic about his weekend's prospects, despite finishing the day in 11th and 14th positions on the timing screens.

"When I was on my best lap the car stopped with an electrical problem coming out of the hairpin," said Merhi.

"But I think it's looking quite good. I went out and was straight away looking competitive in P2.

"That lap I was already three tenths quicker and the circuit is improving. I am in the best position regarding the tyres, because we didn't push at all."

The competitive order was possibly slightly confused by several teams carrying over fresh tyres from recent tests.

Fortec's Oliver Rowland ended practice two in fourth, ahead of Red Bull-backed GP3 runner-up Dean Stoneman and his DAMS team-mate de Vries.

Use of the category's low-downforce set-up is mandatory this season during Saturday qualifying sessions and the subsequent opening race of a weekend.

MORNING TIMES:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Matthieu Vaxiviere Lotus 1m42.013s - 14
2 Gustav Malja Strakka Racing 1m42.020s 0.007s 19
3 Beitske Visser AVF 1m42.083s 0.070s 19
4 Pietro Fantin International Draco Racing 1m42.139s 0.126s 20
5 Nyck de Vries DAMS 1m42.235s 0.222s 17
6 Jazeman Jaafar Fortec Motorsports 1m42.253s 0.240s 17
7 Tio Ellinas Strakka Racing 1m42.361s 0.348s 15
8 Alfonso Celis AVF 1m42.376s 0.363s 17
9 Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 1m42.432s 0.419s 18
10 Dean Stoneman DAMS 1m42.563s 0.550s 16
11 Roberto Merhi Pons Racing 1m42.686s 0.673s 10
12 Tom Dillmann Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 1m42.699s 0.686s 17
13 Philo Paz Armand Pons Racing 1m42.925s 0.912s 19
14 Meindert van Buuren Lotus 1m43.008s 0.995s 13
15 Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 1m43.113s 1.100s 13
16 Bruno Bonifacio International Draco Racing 1m43.185s 1.172s 17
17 Egor Orudzhev Arden Motorsport 1m43.416s 1.403s 16
18 Nicholas Latifi Arden Motorsport 1m43.470s 1.457s 14
19 Roy Nissany Tech 1 Racing 1m44.216s 2.203s 9
20 Aurelien Panis Tech 1 Racing 1m44.835s 2.822s 17

AFTERNOON TIMES:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Matthieu Vaxiviere Lotus 1m42.337s - 13
2 Jazeman Jaafar Fortec Motorsports 1m42.767s 0.430s 14
3 Tio Ellinas Strakka Racing 1m42.805s 0.468s 15
4 Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 1m42.820s 0.483s 14
5 Dean Stoneman DAMS 1m42.914s 0.577s 16
6 Nyck de Vries DAMS 1m43.145s 0.808s 14
7 Tom Dillmann Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 1m43.183s 0.846s 15
8 Egor Orudzhev Arden Motorsport 1m43.230s 0.893s 18
9 Pietro Fantin International Draco Racing 1m43.256s 0.919s 18
10 Beitske Visser AVF 1m43.332s 0.995s 16
11 Gustav Malja Strakka Racing 1m43.334s 0.997s 14
12 Meindert van Buuren Lotus 1m43.362s 1.025s 14
13 Nicholas Latifi Arden Motorsport 1m43.582s 1.245s 15
14 Roberto Merhi Pons Racing 1m43.887s 1.550s 14
15 Alfonso Celis AVF 1m43.973s 1.636s 10
16 Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam with Carlin 1m44.114s 1.777s 17
17 Philo Paz Armand Pons Racing 1m44.261s 1.924s 16
18 Aurelien Panis Tech 1 Racing 1m44.358s 2.021s 11
19 Bruno Bonifacio International Draco Racing 1m44.703s 2.366s 17
20 Roy Nissany Tech 1 Racing 1m45.701s 3.364s 12

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