Van der Garde fastest at Valencia
Giedo van der Garde set the pace on the first day of World Series by Renault testing at Valencia on Wednesday
The Dutch driver narrowly beat afternoon pacesetter Michael Herck to the top of the timesheets at the Spanish track, where he went fastest with Cram Competition.
"We made a good job of things this morning and no one was able to beat that time," he said. "Everything went well with the team, and I hope to carry on in the same vein tomorrow."
Alvaro Barba had been the initial pacesetter in the afternoon, but his time was disallowed after his KTR machine was found to be underweight, and he had to settle for the third fastest time overall.
Teenager Charles Pic continued to show the impressive pace he had at the recent Paul Ricard test by setting the fourth fastest time, while Aleix Alcaraz completed the top five for Pons Racing.
The second of the Barba brothers, Marco, was sixth, with Roberto Merhi taking seventh for former champions Epsilon Euskadi.
McLaren Autosport BRDC Award nominee Duncan Tappy added to the World Series experience he gained at Snetterton recently, as he set the 13th fastest time for Comtec Racing, just behind his countryman Oliver Oakes.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Giedo Van Der Garde Cram Competition 1:22.052 2. Michael Herck Prema Powerteam 1:22.079 + 0.027 3. Alvaro Barba KTR 1:22.086 + 0.034 4. Charles Pic Tech 1 Racing 1:22.362 + 0.310 5. Aleix Alcaraz Pons Racing 1:22.415 + 0.363 6. Marco Barba Inter. Draco R. 1:22.527 + 0.475 7. Roberto Merhi Epsilon Euskadi 1:22.695 + 0.643 8. Alexandre Marsoin KTR 1:22.715 + 0.663 9. Bertrand Baguette Inter. Draco R. 1:22.766 + 0.714 10. Johnny Cecotto RC Motorsport 1:22.825 + 0.773 11. Pablo Sanchez Interwetten.com 1:22.980 + 0.928 12. Oliver Oakes Tech 1 Racing 1:23.127 + 1.075 13. Duncan Tappy Red Devil T.Comtec 1:23.130 + 1.078 14. Carlo Van Dam Fortec Motorsport 1:23.158 + 1.106 15. Robert Wickens Carlin Motorsport 1:23.210 + 1.158 16. Sergio Perez Interwetten.Com 1:23.247 + 1.195 17. Pippa Mann Cram Competition 1:23.587 + 1.535 18. Xavier Maassen Red Devil T.Comtec 1:23.778 + 1.726 19. Carlos Iaconelli Prema Powerteam 1:23.815 + 1.763 20. Daniil Move Carlin Motorsport 1:23.849 + 1.797 21. Parthiva Sureshwaren Victory Engineering 1:24.812 + 2.760 22. Pascuale Di Sabatino RC Motorsport 1:26.496 + 4.444
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