Magnussen leads FR3.5 testing

Kevin Magnussen led the way on the first day of post-season Formula Renault 3.5 testing at Barcelona on Tuesday.

The McLaren junior driver, who finished seventh in the championship with Carlin this season, led the way throughout the test, driving for DAMS.

Magnussen beat the lap record several times over the day, topping the times in both the morning and afternoon sessions.

“The conditions were perfect today, which explains why the times are so good,” he said. “It’s interesting to see how other teams work, and this is a good way to prepare for 2013.”

Fellow 2012 FR3.5 racer Nico Muller ended the day second, switching from Draco to Pons for the test. He was just ahead of GP2 convert Marcus Ericsson, who was getting his first taste of the Renault category with P1 Motorsport.

“I need to do more laps, but I’m really happy with my first day,” said the Swede. “The laptimes are similar to that of a GP2 car, but the time comes differently.

“Formula Renault 3.5 is faster in the corners, and I’ll need to change my driving style to maintain speed in the turns.”

Magnussen’s 2012 Carlin team-mate Will Stevens was fourth for Fortec Motorsports, ahead of BVM Target’s Tamas Pal Kiss, who competed in two FR3.5 rounds for the team after the GP3 season finished.

Formula 3 racers Pietro Fantin and Carlos Sainz were next up for Lotus and Carlin respectively, while new team AV Formula was eighth quickest with Arthur Pic on its first day in the category.

Pos  Driver               Team            Time       Gap
  1.  Kevin Magnussen      DAMS            1m28.721s
  2.  Nico Muller          Pons            1m29.148s  + 0.427s
  3.  Marcus Ericsson      P1              1m29.804s  + 1.083s
  4.  Will Stevens         Fortec          1m29.884s  + 1.163s
  5.  Tamas Pal Kiss       BVM Target      1m29.897s  + 1.176s
  6.  Pietro Fantin        Lotus           1m29.908s  + 1.187s
  7.  Carlos Sainz         Carlin          1m29.971s  + 1.250s
  8.  Arthur Pic           AV              1m30.016s  + 1.295s
  9.  Lucas Foresti        Arden Caterham  1m30.081s  + 1.360s
 10.  Nikolay Martsenko    Fortec          1m30.202s  + 1.481s
 11.  Norman Nato          Arden Caterham  1m30.254s  + 1.533s
 12.  Will Buller          Comtec          1m30.356s  + 1.635s
 13.  Zoel Amberg          Pons            1m30.420s  + 1.699s
 14.  Marco Sorensen       Lotus           1m30.491s  + 1.770s
 15.  Jazeman Jaafar       Carlin          1m30.515s  + 1.794s
 16.  Vittorio Ghirelli    Draco           1m30.524s  + 1.803s
 17.  Sergey Sirotkin      DAMS            1m30.602s  + 1.881s
 18.  Christopher Zanella  Comtec          1m30.664s  + 1.943s
 19.  Conor Daly           Tech 1          1m30.888s  + 2.167s
 20.  Albert Costa         Draco           1m30.924s  + 2.203s
 21.  Marlon Stockinger    AV              1m31.241s  + 2.520s
 22.  Yann Cunha           ISR             1m31.872s  + 3.151s
 23.  Niccolo Schiro       BVM Target      1m32.051s  + 3.330s
 24.  Filip Salaquarda     ISR             1m32.238s  + 3.517s
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/magnussen-leads-fr3-5-testing

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