Robert Wickens in front in second Formula Renault 3.5 session at Paul Ricard

Fresh from his maiden Virgin Formula 1 test at Vairano last week, the Canadian moved to the head of the timings with seven minutes of the hour and fifteen minute session remaining. Wickens' effort of 1m52.114s was subsequently lowered to a 1m51.907s, and proved sufficient to edge out Vergne by over a tenth of a second.

Fortec's reigning Italian Formula 3 champion Cesar Ramos ended the afternoon in third spot, 0.022s ahead of Gravity-Charouz racer Brendon Hartley.

Third fastest this morning, Spaniard Albert Costa completed a strong day for Epic Racing with fifth place in the second session.

Czech team ISR opted to run Daniel Ricciardo on used rubber this morning, as the Australian reacclimatised to Formula Renault 3.5 following last week's Italian Grand Prix. The HRT F1 driver improved to sixth place, 0.067s ahead of Ramos' Fortec team-mate Alexander Rossi, having languished in 17th this morning.

In only his second meeting in the category, GP3 graduate Nick Yelloly (Pons) took a respectable eighth.

"I haven't driven on this circuit configuration (Solution 01C V2) at Paul Ricard before, although I have run on part of the track at the back," said Yelloly. "We have had some bad luck at Monza and Spa in GP3, but at the moment my thinking is that I will probably remain in GP3 next season."

Fairuz Fauzy had a frustrating day at Mofaz, suffering with gearbox problems in both sessions.

"I am frustrated to lose so much track time this morning," said Fauzy. "This is not a version of Ricard that I have driven on in GP2. It is such a technical track that is really important to get experience. Unfortunately, [team-mate] Jake Rosenzweig had some problems too, so we are lacking some data ahead of qualifying."

Pos  Driver             Team             Time       Gap
 1.  Robert Wickens     Carlin           1m51.907s
 2.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Carlin           1m52.012s  + 0.105s
 3.  Cesar Ramos        Fortec           1m52.276s  + 0.369s
 4.  Brendon Hartley    Gravity-Charouz  1m52.298s  + 0.391s
 5.  Albert Costa       Epic             1m52.321s  + 0.414s
 6.  Daniel Ricciardo   ISR              1m52.430s  + 0.523s
 7.  Alexander Rossi    Fortec           1m52.497s  + 0.590s
 8.  Nick Yelloly       Pons             1m52.587s  + 0.680s
 9.  Daniil Move        P1               1m52.651s  + 0.744s
10.  Jan Charouz        Gravity-Charouz  1m52.652s  + 0.745s
11.  Oliver Webb        Pons             1m52.675s  + 0.768s
12.  Daniel Zampieri    BVM Target       1m52.695s  + 0.788s
13.  Stephane Richelmi  Draco            1m52.706s  + 0.799s
14.  Kevin Korjus       Tech 1           1m52.730s  + 0.823s
15.  Sergio Canamasas   BVM Target       1m52.897s  + 0.990s
16.  Jake Rosenzweig    Mofaz            1m52.922s  + 1.015s
17.  Sten Pentus        Epic             1m52.930s  + 1.023s
18.  Nathanael Berthon  ISR              1m53.021s  + 1.114s
19.  Nelson Panciatici  KMP              1m53.131s  + 1.224s
20.  Anton Nebylitskiy  KMP              1m53.139s  + 1.232s
21.  Walter Grubmuller  P1               1m53.406s  + 1.499s
22.  Andre Negrao       Draco            1m53.546s  + 1.639s
23.  Daniel McKenzie    Comtec           1m53.646s  + 1.739s
24.  Arthur Pic         Tech 1           1m53.888s  + 1.981s
25.  Daniel de Jong     Comtec           1m53.952s  + 2.045s
26.  Fairuz Fauzy       Mofaz            1m53.999s  + 2.092s