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Vergne quickest in FR3.5 testing

Jean-Eric Vergne set the fastest time in Formula Renault 3.5 collective testing at Motorland Aragon this afternoon - as the Frenchman displayed no signs of difficulty switching between his Formula 3 and FR3.5 programmes

The Red Bull Junior man's time of 1m43.235s for SG Formula was 0.305 seconds up on his closest challenger, Renault Formula 1 reserve driver Jan Charouz.

"Everything is going fine for me," said Vergne. "I set the fastest time in the British Formula 3 test at Silverstone [on Tuesday], and again now here. I'm working with an engineer I know well from SG's Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup 2.0 last year, really I'm just doing my job."

Runner-up in this morning's session, Pons driver Federico Leo stepped over the limit in his pursuit of the leaders but still managed third fastest this afternoon.

"The time was set on my seventh lap on new tyres," said Leo, "and then unfortunately as I was pushing I went off the track."

Fourth fastest Greg Mansell expressed himself happy with his Comtec car's pace on old rubber, but felt that more set-up work was required in order to exploit his new tyres to the full.

Russian Anton Nebylitskiy took fifth with rookie outfit KMP Racing, while Fortec's Jon Lancaster completed the top six.

Former Macau Grand Prix winner Keisuke Kunimoto led much of the early part of the afternoon session on a time of 1m44.612s, before slipping to seventh. Kunimoto was a lone runner for Epsilon Euskadi, as team-mate Albert Costa remains sidelined with an injured thumb; a legacy of an accident in 2010's opening collective test at Barcelona.

Reigning Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup champion Costa aims to return to action in time for the first round of the season on April 17th, but admits that it will be a close call.

"I hope to be at the first race, I am concentrating really hard on my physio," said Costa. "My problem is it's painful to bend the top joint of my thumb, the blood is not reaching it as it should.

"If I do the first race, my hand will have to be in some kind of cast. It will mean the first race will be my pre-season test. The season is a big opportunity for me, if it doesn't work out I'll probably be going home, so I am doing everything I can to make it."

Pos  Driver             Team             Time       Gap       Laps
 1.  Jean Eric Vergne   SG               1m43.235s            30
 2.  Jan Charouz        P1               1m43.540s  + 0.305s  29
 3.  Federico Leo       Pons             1m43.689s  + 0.454s  33
 4.  Greg Mansell       Comtec           1m43.723s  + 0.488s  30
 5.  Anton Nebylitskyi  KMP              1m43.842s  + 0.607s  27
 6.  Jon Lancaster      Fortec           1m43.860s  + 0.625s  20
 7.  Keisuke Kunimoto   Epsilon Euskadi  1m43.980s  + 0.745s  29
 8.  Nathanael Berthon  Draco            1m43.986s  + 0.751s  26
 9.  Walter Grubmuller  P1               1m44.000s  + 0.765s  30
10.  Victor Garcia      KMP              1m44.058s  + 0.823s  17
11.  Brendon Hartley    Tech 1           1m44.122s  + 0.887s  30
12.  Jake Rosenzweig    Carlin           1m44.142s  + 0.907s  34
13.  Julian Leal        Draco            1m44.420s  + 1.185s  31
14.  Sten Pentus        Fortec           1m44.531s  + 1.296s  46
15.  Filip Salaquarda   ISR              1m44.532s  + 1.297s  24
16.  Mikhail Aleshin    Carlin           1m44.764s  + 1.529s  26
17.  Stefano Coletti    Comtec           1m44.907s  + 1.672s  26
18.  Frederic Vervisch  Interwetten      1m44.929s  + 1.694s  21
19.  Claudio Cantelli   Tech 1           1m44.948s  + 1.713s  49
20.  Nelson Panciatici  Junior Lotus     1m45.037s  + 1.802s  26
21.  Bruno Mendez       Interwetten      1m45.089s  + 1.854s  34
22.  Daniel Zampieri    Pons             1m45.275s  + 2.040s  19
23.  Sergio Canamasas   SG               1m45.330s  + 2.095s  19
24.  Daniil Move        Junior Lotus     1m46.483s  + 3.248s  3

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