Salvador Duran comes out on top

Silverstone – Collective Test 2

After two days of collective testing, Salvador Duran (Interwetten.com Racing) clocked the best time overall, ahead of Marcos Martinez (Pons Racing) and Giedo Van der Garde (P1 Motorsport). With seventeen cars separated by less than a second, it will be a hard-fought battle for pole position!Friday's two 45-minute sessions gave the drivers ample opportunity to build on the work they started Thursday. Giedo Van der Garde got off to a flyer. He quickly improved on the fastest time from Thur, set by Robert Wickens of Carlin Motorsport, and continued to dominate throughout the early part of the session. With a lap timed at 1'33''239 and an average speed of almost 200kph, Van der Garde was in the lead when Marcos Martinez (Pons Racing) crashed off, temporarily bringing the session to a halt.

By the time the action resumed, almost everyone had put on a fresh set of tyres. Guillaume Moreau (KTR) was the first driver to get close to Van der Garde's time. Fairuz Fauzy (Fortec Motorsport) then unseated Moreau from second place as Marco Bonanomi (Red Devil team Comtec) grabbed top spot in 1'33''216. Giedo Van der Garde wasted no time in bouncing back, however, reclaiming the lead shortly afterwards with a lap timed at 1'33''092, before the session was once again interrupted when Aleix Alcaraz (RC Motorsport) crashed off. At this stage, Marco Bonanomi and Bertrand Baguette (International Draco Racing) were lying in second and third place respectively behind Van der Garde.

The standings would change again as the end of the session approached, with the Tech 1 Racing drivers working their way up the field. Charles Pic sneaked into second position between Giedo Van der Garde and Marco Bonanomi, while Julien Jousse climbed to fifth.

Today's second session of collective testing, the last before the weekend, saw the drivers make a cagy start before letting rip as the end drew near. Alvaro Barba (Prema Powerteam) was the first to get close to Van der Garde's time. He crashed off shortly afterwards, but he was the first of a number of drivers to embark upon a final charge to improve their times.

First, Marcos Martinez (Pons Racing) took the lead with a time of 1'33''042, the fastest of the two days at that point. Just a few seconds later, Salvador Duran (Interwetten.com Racing) upped the ante, becoming the first driver at this meeting to break the 1'33 barrier, with a lap timed at 1'32''982. Some drivers missed out on a last chance to improve on their times when Alexandre Marsoin's gearshift problems sent oil spilling onto the track and the session was suspended.

Salvador Duran therefore claimed the fastest time overall over the two days of testing, followed by Marco Martinez, Giedo Van der Garde, Charles Pic and Fabio Carbone (Ultimate Signature). With very little to choose between the drivers, qualifying promises to be a thrilling affair.

Salvador Duran: "These tests have gone very well. We found a decent setup and I think we can still improve on two or three things, especially for the races. Qualifying will be very important, as we are all performing at a similar level."

Marcos Martinez: "This circuit is new to me, but things are going well. Yesterday I didn't drive brilliantly and the car didn't handle as I might have liked, but today it was great. I can't read too much into this result, as I know that a lot of drivers didn't switch to fresh tyres."

POS NUMBER DRIVER TEAM LAP TIME GAP_FIRST KPH LAPS  1 21 Giedo Van Der GARDE P1 MOTORSPORT 10 1:33.092 - 198.8 12   2 2 Charles PIC TECH 1 RACING 16 1:33.129 +0.037 198.7 17   3 25 Marco BONANOMI RED DEVIL TEAM COMTEC 11 1:33.216 +0.124 198.5 17   4 3 Bertrand BAGUETTE INTERNATIONAL DRACO RACING 17 1:33.257 +0.165 198.4 17   5 1 Julien JOUSSE TECH 1 RACING 12 1:33.326 +0.234 198.3 13   6 4 Marco BARBA INTERNATIONAL DRACO RACING 14 1:33.362 +0.270 198.2 16   7 24 Fairuz FAUZY FORTEC MOTORSPORT 11 1:33.509 +0.417 197.9 14   8 15 Marcos MARTINEZ PONS RACING 12 1:33.593 +0.501 197.7 12   9 17 Guillaume MOREAU KTR 10 1:33.656 +0.564 197.6 15   10 5 Mikhail ALESHIN CARLIN MOTORSPORT 16 1:33.744 +0.652 197.4 16   11 26 Pasquale DiSABATINO RED DEVIL TEAM COMTEC 12 1:33.880 +0.788 197.1 17   12 8 Alexandre MARSOIN EPSILON-EUSKADI 15 1:33.989 +0.897 196.9 17   13 6 Robert WICKENS CARLIN MOTORSPORT 14 1:34.138 +1.046 196.6 17   14 9 Miguel MOLINA PREMA POWERTEAM 14 1:34.236 +1.144 196.4 16   15 19 Salvador DURAN INTERWETTEN.COM RACING 14 1:34.509 +1.417 195.8 15   16 10 Alvaro BARBA PREMA POWERTEAM 5 1:34.514 +1.422 195.8 12   17 22 Pippa MANN P1 MOTORSPORT 10 1:34.581 +1.489 195.6 17   18 7 Mario ROMANCINI EPSILON-EUSKADI 15 1:34.672 +1.580 195.5 16   19 11 Aleix ALCARAZ RC MOTORSPORT 12 1:34.711 +1.619 195.4 14   20 12 Duncan TAPPY RC MOTORSPORT 15 1:34.827 +1.735 195.1 15   21 27 Fabio CARBONE ULTIMATE-SIGNATURE 11 1:34.982 +1.890 194.8 12   22 23 James WALKER FORTEC MOTORSPORT 8 1:35.049 +1.957 194.7 9   23 14 Maximo CORTES PONS RACING 10 1:35.082 +1.990 194.6 14   24 28 Esteban GUERRIERI ULTIMATE-SIGNATURE 9 1:35.083 +1.991 194.6 10   25 20 Pablo SANCHEZ INTERWETTEN.COM RACING 6 1:35.280 +2.188 194.2 13   26 16 Daniil MOVE KTR 15 1:36.226 +3.134 192.3 16  

POS NUMBER DRIVER TEAM LAP TIME GAP_FIRST KPH LAPS  1 19 Salvador DURAN INTERWETTEN.COM RACING 12 1:32.982 - 199.0 13   2 15 Marcos MARTINEZ PONS RACING 10 1:33.042 +0.060 198.9 12   3 27 Fabio CARBONE ULTIMATE-SIGNATURE 11 1:33.161 +0.179 198.6 14   4 21 Giedo Van Der GARDE P1 MOTORSPORT 15 1:33.385 +0.403 198.1 16   5 10 Alvaro BARBA PREMA POWERTEAM 7 1:33.463 +0.481 198.0 7   6 3 Bertrand BAGUETTE INTERNATIONAL DRACO RACING 13 1:33.585 +0.603 197.7 16   7 6 Robert WICKENS CARLIN MOTORSPORT 8 1:33.625 +0.643 197.6 9   8 4 Marco BARBA INTERNATIONAL DRACO RACING 12 1:33.861 +0.879 197.1 13   9 14 Maximo CORTES PONS RACING 8 1:33.931 +0.949 197.0 15   10 23 James WALKER FORTEC MOTORSPORT 8 1:33.983 +1.001 196.9 10   11 1 Julien JOUSSE TECH 1 RACING 5 1:33.985 +1.003 196.9 12   12 5 Mikhail ALESHIN CARLIN MOTORSPORT 16 1:34.018 +1.036 196.8 17   13 2 Charles PIC TECH 1 RACING 14 1:34.041 +1.059 196.8 15   14 17 Guillaume MOREAU KTR 4 1:34.198 +1.216 196.4 14   15 9 Miguel MOLINA PREMA POWERTEAM 7 1:34.223 +1.241 196.4 14   16 7 Mario ROMANCINI EPSILON-EUSKADI 10 1:34.245 +1.263 196.3 13   17 12 Duncan TAPPY RC MOTORSPORT 6 1:34.322 +1.340 196.2 16   18 20 Pablo SANCHEZ INTERWETTEN.COM RACING 11 1:34.369 +1.387 196.1 12   19 24 Fairuz FAUZY FORTEC MOTORSPORT 4 1:34.576 +1.594 195.7 15   20 26 Pasquale DiSABATINO RED DEVIL TEAM COMTEC 4 1:34.825 +1.843 195.1 15   21 28 Esteban GUERRIERI ULTIMATE-SIGNATURE 5 1:34.968 +1.986 194.8 11   22 8 Alexandre MARSOIN EPSILON-EUSKADI 13 1:35.186 +2.204 194.4 13   23 22 Pippa MANN P1 MOTORSPORT 6 1:35.216 +2.234 194.3 15   24 16 Daniil MOVE KTR 13 1:35.327 +2.345 194.1 16   25 25 Marco BONANOMI RED DEVIL TEAM COMTEC 12 1:35.570 +2.588 193.6 13   26 11 Aleix ALCARAZ RC MOTORSPORT 2 1:40.437 +7.455 184.2 3