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Charouz quickest in Brno test

Local favourite Jan Charouz was fastest in the opening Formula Renault 3.5 collective test at Brno this morning

Charouz, who is set to demonstrate a Renault Formula 1 roadshow car this weekend, displaced Comtec's Stefano Coletti to move to the top of the timing screens 25 minutes before the end of the 75-minute session.

Monegasque Coletti held on to end the morning in second, two tenths adrift of Charouz and just 0.060s ahead of Fortec's Jon Lancaster.

"I messed up the last corner, so I am reasonably happy to be P3 having blown a couple of tenths," said Lancaster. "The circuit is so abrasive that you are only going to get one lap out of new tyres before they're completely destroyed.

"This is one of the first races we have been to where everyone is starting pretty level. I know the P1 drivers have done an Auto GP race here, but I think they've just been out on new tyres, and also Coletti ran new tyres earlier in the session, while the tyres that I started on had done around 50km. I think that we will try running the low-aero [configuration] in preparation for tomorrow's race this afternoon."

Monaco winner Daniel Ricciardo was fourth, separated by 0.021s from his former British Formula 3 adversary Grubmuller. The Austrian, sporting a new moustache, is recovering well from his airborne Auto GP accident at Imola last month.

"I am a bit yellow still from the bruising, but apart from a couple of points which hurt if you apply pressure, I don't really feel anything and I am sure I will be fine for the race," said Grubmuller.

"In the accident, there were some cars on the grass and the next thing I knew I was going over the back of [Luca] Filippi. I was sent to hospital for some check-ups, but they didn't find any fractures. Here, I think that the circuit is quite tough, I am not sure what the others were doing but both Jan and I tried new tyres this morning."

There were differing fortunes at Epsilon Euskadi; Macau winner Keisuke Kunimoto took sixth, while team-mate Albert Costa - fresh from a podium in Monaco - propped up the classification.

Having been quickest in the early stages of the session, championship leader Mikhail Aleshin slipped to seventh. Aleshin has an extra incentive to maintain his advantage in the title race, as the championship leader after Brno's meeting will receive a prize Renault Formula 1 roadshow outing at the forthcoming round at Magny-Cours on June 19-20.

This morning's session was interrupted by two red flags after incidents for Daniil Move at Turn 9 and Victor Garcia at Turn 1.

Pos Driver                Team             Time          Gap
 1. Jan Charouz           P1               1m43.716s
 2. Stefano Coletti       Comtec           1m43.955s  +0.239
 3. Jon Lancaster         Fortec           1m44.015s  +0.299
 4. Daniel Ricciardo      Tech 1           1m44.036s  +0.320
 5. Walter Grubmuller     P1               1m44.120s  +0.404
 6. Keisuke Kunimoto      Epsilon          1m44.205s  +0.489
 7. Mikhail Aleshin       Carlin           1m44.292s  +0.576
 8. Nathanael Berthon     Draco            1m44.325s  +0.609
 9. Filip Salaquarda      ISR              1m44.429s  +0.713
10. Federico Leo          Pons             1m44.563s  +0.847
11. Nelson Panciatici     Junior Lotus     1m44.685s  +0.969
12. Daniel Zampieri       Pons             1m45.061s  +1.345
13. Julian Leal           Draco            1m45.119s  +1.403
14. Greg Mansell          Comtec           1m45.141s  +1.425
15. Brendon Hartley       Tech 1           1m45.379s  +1.663
16. Victor Garcia         KMP              1m45.505s  +1.789
17. Esteban Guerrieri     ISR              1m45.588s  +1.872
18. Sten Pentus           Fortec           1m45.627s  +1.911
19. Daniil Move           Junior Lotus     1m45.682s  +1.966
20. Jake Rosenzweig       Carlin           1m46.302s  +2.586
21. Sergio Canamasas      Interwetten      1m46.411s  +2.695
22. Anton Nebylitskiy     KMP              1m46.416s  +2.700
23. Bruno Mendez          Interwetten      1m47.252s  +3.536
24. Albert Costa          Epsilon          1m47.504s  +3.788

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