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Sam Dejonghe sets record pace in Valencia Auto GP test

Belgian rookie Sam Dejonghe set the quickest Auto GP lap ever recorded at Valencia at the conclusion of the opening collective test of 2014

Fellow rookie and former Formula 2 race winner Markus Pommer ended the day second fastest for reigning champion Super Nova, and was just 0.056s shy of Dejonghe's benchmark time.

Dejonghe's time of 1m20.74s impressed his Virtuosi UK team as it was set against several established Auto GP frontrunners, including 2012 championship challenger Kimiya Sato.

"For a lad that never drove the car before, he only had a one day session made up of two half days, and unbelievable how he took the car coming from an F3 car," said Virtuosi UK team boss Declan Logan.

Dejonghe, who was a frontrunner in the India-based MRF series over the winter, is aiming to secure a vacant seat at Virtuosi alongside series returnee Andrea Roda.

Tuesday pacesetter Tamas Pal Kiss was third for Zele Racing, and the Hungarian headed the times in the slower afternoon session.

Andrea Roda took fourth, 0.018s ahead of Puma 3/Eurotech racer Kevin Giovesi.

MLR71/Euronova racer Sato had to leave the test prematurely to head to Bahrain, where he will make his GP2 debut for Campos. The Japanese had been fourth fastest, but his time of 1m21.581s secured an eventual sixth place.

Three compounds of Kumho tyre were made available for evaluation by the 16 drivers, as the series gears up for the opening 2014 meeting in Marrakech on April 12-13.

Combined day two times:

Pos  Driver              Team             Time       Gap      Laps
 1.  Sam DeJonghe        Virtuosi         1m20.741s           45
 2.  Markus Pommer       Super Nova       1m20.797s  +0.056s  60
 3.  Tamas Pal Kiss      Zele             1m21.253s  +0.512s  35
 4.  Andrea Roda         Virtuosi         1m21.414s  +0.673s  67
 5.  Kevin Giovesi       Puma 3/Eurotech  1m21.432s  +0.691s  60
 6.  Kimiya Sato         MLR71/Euronova   1m21.581s  +0.840s  24
 7.  Gianmarco Raimondo  Super Nova       1m21.663s  +0.922s  50
 8.  Michela Cerruti     Super Nova       1m21.686s  +0.945s  59
 9.  Loris Spinelli      Puma 3/Eurotech  1m22.276s  +1.535s  68
10.  Richard Gonda       Virtuosi         1m22.605s  +1.864s  48
11.  Giuseppe Cipriani   Ibiza            1m22.743s  +2.002s  64
12.  Yoshitaka Koruda    MLR71/Euronova   1m23.480s  +2.739s  31
13.  Salvatore De Plano  MLR71/Euronova   1m23.928s  +3.187s  11
14.  Michele La Rosa     MLR71/Euronova   1m23.992s  +3.251s  42

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