Hartley quickest in Barcelona test

The Kiwi enjoyed a productive time with P1 Motorsport, who entered him in a solitary race outing at Silverstone in September.

Hartley's fastest time of 1m32.820s was recorded on Wednesday afternoon.

"We had our work cut out for us here," said Hartley. "P1 Motorsport lost all of its data last year in a fire. So my first task was to try out a whole range of things to rebuild their database. We will have to do the same thing in Motorland Aragon.

"In the end, I only managed to get one quick lap in. I feel good at P1 Motorsport and the work we are doing together is very constructive. I'm still lacking a little bit in terms of budget, but the ideal thing would be for me to return with them next season in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series."

There were 22 drivers present on Tuesday's opening day of testing.

Italian team BVM Target made its debut Formula Renault 3.5 track appearance with Mirko Bortolotti and Daniel Zampieri at the wheel, ahead of a full assault on the 2011 series. FHV Interwetten.com and Pons Racing elected to miss the test.

Mixed weather greeted the teams on both days, before clearing for the afternoon sessions. Hartley made the most of his experience to head the times on Tuesday morning. American Alexander Rossi finished second, quickly re-acclimatising to the Czech ISR team that ran him at Monaco this year.

Rossi was second again in the afternoon. His fellow GP3 racer Adrian Quaife-Hobbs set a time of 1m33.595s for Comtec, eclipsing Rossi by 0.065s.

Experienced Russian Anton Nebylitskiy emerged fastest on Wednesday morning with an effort of 1m35.668s, before conditions improved to allow Hartley to set the overall benchmark time from Rossi and Quaife-Hobbs.

Among the invitees were this year's Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup drivers Arthur Pic, at Tech 1 Racing, Epsilon Euskadi's Giovanni Venturini, International Draco Racing's Andre Negrao and UK championship racer Will Stevens who tested for Comtec.

Tuesday times
Pos Driver                 Team             Time
 1. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs    Comtec           1m33.595
 2. Alexander Rossi        ISR              1m33.660
 3. Robert Wickens         Fortec           1m33.770
 4. Walter Grubmuller      P1               1m34.069
 5. Julian Leal            ISR              1m34.206
 6. Brendon Hartley        P1               1m34.473
 7. Arthur Pic             Tech 1           1m34.524
 8. Albert Costa           Epsilon          1m34.625
 9. Giovanni Venturini     Epsilon          1m34.822
10. Nelson Panciatici      KMP              1m34.827
11. Anton Neblitskiy       KMP              1m34.881
12. Stefano Richelmi       Draco            1m34.925
13. Mirko Bortolotti       BVM              1m35.062
14. Max Chilton            Carlin           1m35.211
15. Jazeman Jaafar         Carlin           1m35.331
16. Daniel Zampieri        BVM              1m35.462
17. Ivan Lukashevich       Junior Lotus     1m35.816
18. Andre Negrao           Draco            1m35.934
19. Will Stevens           Comtec           1m36.218
20. Daniel McKenzie        Fortec           1m36.453
21. Jean-Eric Vergne       Tech 1           1m36.774
22. Pierre Thiriet         Junior Lotus     1m38.272

Wednesday times
Pos Driver                 Team             Time
 1. Brendon Hartley        P1               1m32.820
 2. Alexander Rossi        ISR              1m33.100
 3. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs    Comtec           1m33.648
 4. Daniel Zampieri        Fortec           1m33.709
 5. Albert Costa           Epsilon          1m33.832
 6. Nathanael Berthon      Tech 1           1m33.921
 7. Jazeman Jaafar         Carlin           1m34.024
 8. Mirko Bortolotti       BVM              1m34.072
 9. Max Chilton            Carlin           1m34.072
10. Arthur Pic             Tech 1           1m34.082
11. Daniil Move            ISR              1m34.178
12. Walter Grubmuller      P1               1m34.183
13. Sergio Canamasas       Epsilon          1m34.234
14. Nelson Panciatici      KMP              1m34.512
15. Giovanni Venturini     Junior Lotus     1m34.513
16. Will Stevens           Comtec           1m34.525
17. Anton Neblitskiy       KMP              1m34.686
18. Daniel McKenzie        Fortec           1m34.971
19. Daniel de Jong         Draco            1m35.332
20. Andre Negrao           Draco            1m37.071