Baguette on top in Estoril test
Bertrand Baguette set the fastest time in the first collective test for round eight of the Formula Renault 3.5 series at Estoril
The Draco driver arrives at the Portuguese venue on the back of a successful GP2 test with BCN at Le Castellet on Wednesday. Miguel Molina survived a trip through the gravel at the long, right hand, Curva VIP to end the morning second in the classification.
The Spaniard moved ahead of Carlin's Mikhail Aleshin in the closing stages of the 45-minute session, recording a time just a tenth behind Baguette's 1:27.414.
Aleshin remained in third, with four tenths advantage over 2008 double winner Charles Pic. P1 Motorsport's Giedo van der Garde made a solid start to his endeavour to wrap up the championship in this penultimate event. The Dutchman finished fifth fastest.
Filipe Albuquerque made an extremely competent return to the championship with his former team Epsilon-Euskadi. In his first outing in the new car, in place of Mario Romancini, last year's top rookie was tenth quickest.
RC Motorsport, who had severed ties with former Italian F3 champion Paolo Nocera, have been able to reach an agreement with 2007 Formula Renault UK champion Duncan Tappy to return to the team. Tappy had previously competed for the outfit at Silverstone and Hungary.
"It's been a long slog to come back," said Tappy. "I was in the Middle East last week talking with sponsors, and I am so happy to be back and have the opportunity to drive again.
"I am relearning the car after driving the Tottenham Superleague car (last week at the Nurburgring), which is a bit of a beast. The tyres also behave a little differently on the Superleague car. We were four tenths up on my last run but were unable to complete the lap, so I don't think the time (18th) is representative of where we are."
Red Devil Comtec have been unable to find a replacement for their Italian driver Pasquale di Sabatino, who is in sponsorship difficulties, and the field is down to just 25 cars.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Bertrand Baguette International Draco Racing 1:27.414 20 2. Miguel Molina Prema Powerteam 1:27.599 + 0.185 18 3. Mikhail Aleshin Carlin Motorsport 1:27.661 + 0.247 18 4. Charles Pic Tech 1 Racing 1:28.022 + 0.608 18 5. Giedo Van Der Garde P1 Motorsport 1:28.098 + 0.684 19 6. Esteban Guerrieri Ultimate-Signature 1:28.183 + 0.769 18 7. Alvaro Barba Prema Powerteam 1:28.187 + 0.773 18 8. Fabio Carbone Ultimate-Signature 1:28.248 + 0.834 15 9. James Walker Fortec Motorsport 1:28.348 + 0.934 18 10. Filipe Albuquerque Epsilon Euskadi 1:28.400 + 0.986 19 11. Robert Wickens Carlin Motorsport 1:28.414 + 1.000 20 12. Salvador Duran Interwetten.Com Racing 1:28.440 + 1.026 18 13. Marco Barba International Draco Racing 1:28.486 + 1.072 16 14. Marco Bonanomi Red Devil Team Comtec 1:28.546 + 1.132 21 15. Pablo Sanchez Interwetten.Com Racing 1:28.571 + 1.157 21 16. Fairuz Fauzy Fortec Motorsport 1:28.642 + 1.228 15 17. Marcos Martinez Pons Racing 1:28.800 + 1.386 22 18. Duncan Tappy Rc Motorsport 1:28.807 + 1.393 19 19. Julien Jousse Tech 1 Racing 1:28.957 + 1.543 15 20. Alexandre Marsoin Epsilon-Euskadi 1:29.054 + 1.640 21 21. Aleix Alcaraz Pons Racing 1:29.770 + 2.356 20 22. Claudio Cantelli Rc Motorsport 1:29.908 + 2.494 20 23. Pippa Mann P1 Motorsport 1:30.088 + 2.674 15 24. Sergey Afanasiev Ktr 1:30.324 + 2.910 20 25. Siso Cunill Ktr 1:30.508 + 3.094 21
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