The Formula V8 3.5 teams have landed in the Circuit de Barcelona–Catalunya to complete their first collective test of this Season. In the morning, Aurelien Panis (Arden Motorsport) set the fastest lap time of the day (1.30.835), 0.4 seconds ahead of Tom Dillmann (AVF) Panis was again the best driver in the afternoon practice, ahead of René Binder (Lotus).

17 drivers representing 9 of the entered teams attended the first Formula V8 3.5 collective test, prior to the start of the Season next 16 and 17 of April in Motorland Aragón, in the World Series by Renault Event.  In the morning session with ideal track conditions, Tom Dillmann (AVF) set the first reference before Pietro Fittipaldi (Fortec Motorsports) and Roy Nissany (Lotus) followed his footsteps in the TV monitors.

After two small pauses to rescue Emil’s Bernstorff (Strakka Racing) car and later on, the RP Motorsport car from Johnny Cecotto, the last half hour of the morning session concentrated all the suspense. Aurelien Panis demolished the previous lap times finishing in P1. Tom Dillmann, second, managed to reduce the gap in 0.4 seconds. Emil Bernstorff was the third fastest. Pietro Fittipaldi, the Sahara Force India reserve driver, Alfonso Celis Jr (AVF) and the Renault Sport Academy driver Louis Delétraz (Fortec Motorsports) completed the frontrunner group.

Due to the track temperature, there was very little action during the first hour of the afternoon, where Matthieu Vaxiviere (SMP Racing) was the best driver to set a reference lap in old tyres (1.32.456). Following to its morning incident, Cecotto’s car had to stay in the garage.  The other drivers would gradually exit their boxes and regain the track.

The Austrian Lotus driver René Binder would be the first to beat Vaxivière’s reference . After a short brake due to the exit of Atoev (SMP Racing), some drivers went into the track with new rubber. Again, Aurelien Panis, son of the former Formula 1 driver Olivier Panis, did a great job topping the afternoon session with 1.31.156 followed closely by René Binder, Egor Orudzhev, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Pietro Fittipaldi.

Aurelien Panis (Arden Motorsport): “The morning session was quite good. I’ve always been within French teams and things are quite different but I feel really proud to be in this team. This is something new and it’s great to face new challenges. I’m sure that we can improve a lot tomorrow and during the entire season”.