JD Motorsport's Chris van der Drift set the day's fastest time with a best lap of 1:48.610 in Brno, Czech Republic, for yesterday's official Formula Master test.
Posting his time during the afternoon session, the New Zealand-born Dutchman was 0.338 ahead of second best Michael Ammermüller, driving for Iris Project.
With over four seconds improvement on last year's best time, this weekend's racing looks set to be intense with van der Drift, Ammermüller and Jenzer Motorsport's Fabio Leimer all showing strong pace throughout today's test.
"The track feels really different from last year with the new surfacing," said van der Drift who currently leads the Drivers Classification by three points. "There was no rubber on the track this morning, which made it quite slippery but as the day went on and more rubber was laid on; it got better and better.
"It's a very fast track anyway; the corners tend to flow into one another and there is no chicane to slow down for, which is great to drive on. Friday should be even better for free practice and qualifying because more cars will have driven on the circuit between now and then."
Ammermüller's best lap of the morning, a 1:50.374, was closely followed by van der Drift (1:50.490) and Leimer who posted a best time of 1:50.698.
This afternoon's session saw van der Drift set the fastest lap with a time of 1:48.610. Ammermüller was second, posting a best lap of 1:48.948, whilst third-placed man Leimer completed his best lap of the session in 1:49.452.
Formula Master's race meeting in Brno will resume on Friday with two free practice sessions and qualifying, followed by race one on Saturday and race two on Sunday.
Eurosport's coverage for Formula Master's race weekend in the Czech Republic, will begin Saturday 14 June with race one shown live at 12:15 (CET) on Eurosport International and Asia Pacific. Race two will be broadcast on Eurosport 2 at 18:00 (CET).
Formula Master - Brno official testing Morning - top eight 1. Michael Ammermüller (GER), Iris Project (#27), 1:50.374 2. Chris van der Drift (NED), JD Motorsport (#6), 1:50.490 3. Fabio Leimer (SUI), Jenzer Motorsport (#23), 1:50.698 4. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (BUL), JD Motorsport (#4), 1:50.873 5. Frankie Provenzano (ITA), ADM Motorsport (#21), 1:50.204 6. Yuhi Sekiguchi (JAP), Euronova Racing (#45), 1:51.224 7. Kasper Andersen (DEN), Trident Racing (#32), 1:51.293 8. Pablo Sanchez Lopez (MEX), Cram Competition (#2), 1:51.383
Weather/Track: 16°C/23°C
Formula Master - Brno official testing Afternoon - top eight 1. Chris van der Drift (NED), JD Motorsport (#6), 1:48.610 2. Michael Ammermüller (GER), Iris Project (#27), 1:48.948 3. Fabio Leimer (SUI), Jenzer Motorsport (#23), 1:49.452 4. Pablo Sanchez Lopez (MEX), Cram Competition (#2), 1:49.656 5. Arturo Llobell (ESP), Cram Competition (#1), 1:49.801 6. Kasper Andersen (DEN), Trident Racing (#32), 1:49.857 7. Filip Salaquarda (CZH), ISR (#18), 1:49.903 8. Frankie Provenzano (ITA), ADM Motorsport (#21), 1:50.040
Weather/Track: 22°C/28°C
Formula Master - Brno official testing Overall timings 1. Chris van der Drift (NED), JD Motorsport (#6), 1:48.610 2. Michael Ammermüller (GER), Iris Project (#27), 1:48.948 3. Fabio Leimer (SUI), Jenzer Motorsport (#23), 1:49.452 4. Pablo Sanchez Lopez (MEX), Cram Competition (#2), 1:49.656 5. Arturo Llobell (ESP), Cram Competition (#1), 1:49.801 6. Kasper Andersen (DEN), Trident Racing (#32), 1:49.857 7. Filip Salaquarda (CZH), ISR (#18), 1:49.903 8. Frankie Provenzano (ITA), ADM Motorsport (#21), 1:50.040 9. Sergey Afanasiev (RUS), JD Motorsport (#5), 1:52.308 10. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (BUL), JD Motorsport (#4), 1:50.873 11. Tim Sandtler (GER), ISR (#19), 1:53.429 12. Marcello Puglisi (ITA), Pro Motorsport (#9), 1:50.210 13. Luca Persiani (ITA), Scuderia Famà (#25), 1:50.297 14. Yuhi Sekiguchi (JAP), Euronova Racing (#45), 1:50.326 15. Alberto Costa (ITA), Cram Competition (#3), 1:50.372 16. Norbert Siedler (AUT), ADM Motorsport (#17), 1:50.387 17. Alejandro Núñez (ESP), Trident Racing (#33), 1:50.631 18. Harald Schlegelmilch (LAT), Trident Racing (#31), 1:50.668 19. Michael Meadows (GBR), Euronova Racing (#15), 1:50.714 20. Tor Graves (GBR), Team JVA (#30), 1:50.774 21. Josef Kral (CZH), Team JVA (#29), 1:50.950 22. Matei Mihaescu (ROM), Jenzer Motorsport (#24), 1:51.002 23. Fabrizio Crestani (ITA), Euronova Racing (#14), 1:51.431 24. Octavio Freitas (BRA), ADM Motorsport (#16), 1:52.319 25. Carlos Iaconelli (BRA), Pro Motorsport (#10), 1:53.595 26. Michele Caliendo (ITA), ADM Motorsport (#22), 1:53.755 27. Tomas Pivoda (CZH), ADM Motorsport (#117), 1:53.947
