Baguette leads FR3.5 practice at Spa
Draco Racing dominated the opening Formula Renault 3.5 practice session at Spa-Francorchamps with Bertrand Baguette and Marco Barba going quickest following an uneven start to its campaign at Barcelona
Last year's victor Baguette led the way on home soil with a best lap of 2m05.185s, ahead of team-mate Barba. Adrian Valles was third fastest for Epsilon Euskadi, nearly one second adrift of Baguette's pace.
Barcelona pole-sitter Charles Pic put in a late effort to jump James Walker for fourth, with the lone RC Motorsport car of Pasquale di Sabatino completing the top six.
"It's great to be at Spa, but we were actually quite stressed before coming here," confessed Baguette. "At Barcelona we were not where we wanted to be, so we had to change a lot of things on the car. We worked a lot at home looking at data and I think that at the moment we are not far from something good.
"At the moment everything is going well and I am happy with the car. I didn't put on any new tyres, they're from the race in Barcelona, but I don't know how the others are with tyres. We will have to see if we can keep our advantage this afternoon."
At his debut Formula Renault 3.5 meeting, Formula Renault 2.0 graduate Tobias Hegewald ended the hour-long session eighth fastest with Interwetten Racing.
Comtec's returnee, Alex Marsoin, had an early spin between Les Combes and Malmedy and finished the session down in 22nd.
"It's quite a surprise for me to be here at all," said Marsoin. "We'll have to see after this weekend what will happen for the rest of the season.
"This morning I had a spin on my own after five laps, but last year Comtec had a good car with Marco Bonanomi on pole position, so I am sure things will improve this afternoon."
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Bertrand Baguette Draco 2m05.185s 2. Marco Barba Draco 2m05.812s +0.627 3. Adrian Valles Epsilon 2m06.138s +0.953 4. Charles Pic Tech 1 2m06.253s +1.068 5. James Walker P1 2m06.622s +1.437 6. Pasquale di Sabatino RC 2m06.625s +1.440 7. Fairuz Fauzy Fortec 2m06.676s +1.491 8. Tobias Hegewald Interwetten 2m06.995s +1.810 9. Marcos Martinez Pons 2m07.014s +1.829 10. Brendon Hartley Tech 1 2m07.025s +1.840 11. Adrian Zaugg Interwetten 2m07.125s +1.940 12. Oliver Turvey Carlin 2m07.221s +2.036 13. Sten Pentus Fortec 2m07.314s +2.129 14. Federico Leo Pons 2m07.526s +2.341 15. Anton Nebylitskiy Comtec 2m07.826s +2.641 16. Jaime Alguersuari Carlin 2m07.843s +2.658 17. Daniil Move P1 2m08.293s +3.108 18. Greg Mansell Ultimate 2m08.369s +3.184 19. Chris van der Drift Epsilon 2m08.640s +3.455 20. Frankie Provenzano Prema 2m08.804s +3.619 21. Miguel Molina Ultimate 2m09.656s +4.471 22. Alex Marsoin Comtec 2m09.949s +4.764 23. Julian Leal Prema 2m11.610s +6.425
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