Molina dominates Barcelona FR3.5 test

The Ultimate Motorsport driver was the only one to break into the 1m33s and ended the hour six tenths clear of his compatriot Jaime Alguersuari.

"I feel very happy that I will be able to repeat those laptimes," said Molina, who is backed by the Circuit de Catalunya's young driver programme. "The car is really perfect and we are working towards the championship."

P1 Motorsport enjoyed a strong morning with James Walker third, just 0.1s shy of Alguersuari, and new signing Daniil Move fifth.

"I only signed the deal yesterday," said Move. "Tuesday and Wednesday have been spent flying all over Russia talking to sponsors. I have only driven for four days over the last nine months, so I am sure there is room to improve."

Bertrand Baguette had set the early running for Draco but was gradually demoted and eventually split the P1 cars in fifth. Charles Pic completed the top sixfor Tech 1 Racing.

Pic's last-minute team-mate, New Zealand's Red Bull protege Brendon Hartley, propped up the bottom of the timesheet as he familiarised himself with the car

"Brendon drove a FR3.5 car after winning the Eurocup in 2007, but only had half a day of running," said Tech 1's Sarah Abadie. "We started him on new tyres and he gradually improved, but at the moment he is just getting experience."

Of the other late arrivals, Interwetten's Adrian Zaugg was 17th, five places higher than his Romanian team-mate Mihai Marinescu.

"The car takes a lot of getting used to compared to an A1GP car," said Zaugg. "The big difference is the feel of the brakes, and this car also has good rear end grip while the tendency of the current A1GP car is towards oversteer.

"The next two FR3.5 races clash with A1GP, so what we do next depends a little on how we get on this weekend."

Comtec's stand-in for hard-up Frenchman Alexandre Marsoin, Harald Schlegelmilch, was 18th fastest.

Pos Driver                 Team          Time          Gap
 1. Miguel Molina          Ultimate      1m33.542s
 2. Jaime Alguersuari      Carlin        1m34.145s  +0.603
 3. James Walker           P1            1m34.223s  +0.681
 4. Bertrand Baguette      Draco         1m34.336s  +0.794
 5. Daniil Move            P1            1m34.466s  +0.924
 6. Charles Pic            Tech 1        1m34.492s  +0.950
 7. Adrian Valles          Epsilon       1m34.560s  +1.018
 8. Marco Barba            Draco         1m34.561s  +1.019
 9. Oliver Turvey          Carlin        1m34.616s  +1.074
10. Sten Pentus            Fortec        1m34.852s  +1.310
11. Chris van der Drift    Epsilon       1m34.910s  +1.368
12. Marcos Martinez        Pons          1m34.923s  +1.381
13. Pasquale di Sabatino   RC            1m35.095s  +1.553
14. Fairuz Fauzy           Fortec        1m35.245s  +1.703
15. Greg Mansell           Ultimate      1m35.266s  +1.724
16. Julian Leal            Prema         1m35.583s  +2.041
17. Adrian Zaugg           Interwetten   1m35.601s  +2.059
18. Harald Schlegelmilch   Comtec        1m35.813s  +2.271
19. Federico Leo           Pons          1m36.033s  +2.491
20. Frankie Provenzano     Prema         1m36.163s  +2.621
21. Anton Nebylitskiy      Comtec        1m36.204s  +2.662
22. Mihai Marinescu        Interwetten   1m36.363s  +2.821
23. Brendon Hartley        Tech 1        1m36.788s  +3.246