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Monza FR3.5: Antonio Felix da Costa fastest in practice

Antonio Felix da Costa led the way during free practice for this weekend's Formula Renault 3.5 season opener at Monza

The Red Bull junior was the first of three drivers to dip under the 1m50s bracket in the closing stages of the second practice session on Friday, as the heavy rain that has fallen at the track all day briefly eased.

Da Costa's lap, just inside the final 20 minutes of practice, knocked morning pacesetter Kevin Magnussen out of top spot.

The 2013 Formula Renault 3.5 grid guide

In the closing few minutes Stoffel Vandoorne and Christopher Zanella also set times under 1m50s, as Magnussen and DAMS team-mate Norman Nato slipped back having held a one-two at the halfway stage of the session.

Nato, who was regularly setting the fastest time through the first sector, responded to the late improvements to climb back to fourth fastest, while Magnussen didn't get involved in chasing a time late on and slipped to seventh.

Magnussen had edged da Costa with a late effort in the morning session, after the Portuguese driver had spent much of the closing stages out front.

Practice two:

Pos Driver                 Team              Time       Gap       Laps
 1. Antonio F. da Costa    Arden Caterham    1m49.551s             24
 2. Stoffel Vandoorne      Fortec            1m49.928s  + 0.377s   23
 3. Christopher Zanella    ISR               1m49.975s  + 0.424s   25
 4. Norman Nato            DAMS              1m50.073s  + 0.522s   18
 5. Will Stevens           P1 Motorsport     1m50.131s  + 0.580s   21
 6. Nigel Melker           Tech 1            1m50.313s  + 0.762s   23
 7. Kevin Magnussen        DAMS              1m50.450s  + 0.899s   22
 8. Matias Laine           P1                1m50.592s  + 1.041s   18
 9. Sergey Sirotkin        ISR               1m50.719s  + 1.168s   23
10. Lucas Foresti          Comtec            1m50.719s  + 1.168s   23
11. Pietro Fantin          Arden Caterham    1m50.721s  + 1.170s   22
12. Oliver Webb            Fortec            1m50.806s  + 1.255s   25
13. Andre Negrao           Draco             1m50.923s  + 1.372s   23
14. Jazeman Jaafar         Carlin            1m51.151s  + 1.600s   25
15. Zoel Amberg            Pons              1m51.282s  + 1.731s   18
16. Marco Sorensen         Lotus             1m51.430s  + 1.879s   20
17. Marlon Stockinger      Lotus             1m51.529s  + 1.978s   26
18. Mikhail Aleshin        Tech 1            1m51.783s  + 2.232s   12
19. Daniil Move            Comtec            1m52.194s  + 2.643s   18
20. Carlos Huertas         Carlin            1m52.298s  + 2.747s   24
21. Nico Muller            Draco             1m52.374s  + 2.823s   13
22. Arthur Pic             AV Formula        1m52.480s  + 2.929s   18
23. Mihai Marinescu        Zeta Corse        1m52.576s  + 3.025s   23
24. Yann Cunha             AV Formula        1m52.593s  + 3.042s   21
25. Emmanuel Piget         Zeta Corse        1m52.614s  + 3.063s   22
26. Nikolay Martsenko      Pons              1m57.352s  + 7.801s    7

Practice one:

Pos  Driver                  Team            Time       Gap
 1.  Kevin Magnussen         DAMS            1m50.041s
 2.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Arden Caterham  1m50.198s  + 0.157s
 3.  Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin          1m50.547s  + 0.506s
 4.  Christopher Zanella     ISR             1m50.785s  + 0.744s
 5.  Lucas Foresti           Comtec          1m50.853s  + 0.812s
 6.  Norman Nato             DAMS            1m50.926s  + 0.885s
 7.  Pietro Fantin           Arden Caterham  1m51.034s  + 0.993s
 8.  Sergey Sirotkin         ISR             1m51.256s  + 1.215s
 9.  Marco Sorensen          Lotus           1m51.364s  + 1.323s
10.  Nico Muller             Draco           1m51.556s  + 1.515s
11.  Andre Negrao            Draco           1m51.567s  + 1.526s
12.  Matias Laine            P1              1m51.665s  + 1.624s
13.  Stoffel Vandoorne       Fortec          1m51.783s  + 1.742s
14.  Oliver Webb             Fortec          1m51.807s  + 1.766s
15.  Mikhail Aleshin         Tech 1          1m51.833s  + 1.792s
16.  Will Stevens            P1              1m51.839s  + 1.798s
17.  Nigel Melker            Tech 1          1m52.048s  + 2.007s
18.  Daniil Move             Comtec          1m52.099s  + 2.058s
19.  Zoel Amberg             Pons            1m52.462s  + 2.421s
20.  Marlon Stockinger       Lotus           1m52.509s  + 2.468s
21.  Carlos Huertas          Carlin          1m52.958s  + 2.917s
22.  Mihai Marinescu         Zeta            1m52.981s  + 2.940s
23.  Arthur Pic              AV              1m53.141s  + 3.100s
24.  Emmanuel Piget          Zeta            1m53.939s  + 3.898s
25.  Yann Cunha              AV              1m53.976s  + 3.935s
26.  Nikolay Martsenko       Pons            1m54.691s  + 4.650s

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