Paul Ricard HTTT collective testing – Day 2
The Formula Renault 3.5s were back out on track today for the second of three days of collective testing scheduled at the Paul Ricard HTTT. Bertrand Baguette (Draco Racing) set the fastest time in the morning, before Marc Bonanomi (GD Racing) made his presence felt in the afternoon. Charles Pic (Tech 1 Racing) continued in the same vein as yesterday by finishing third behind his teammate Julien Jousse. The sun was still shining on Castellet today. By the start of the afternoon the temperature had reached 20° and the Mistral stayed away all afternoon. Ideal conditions then for this second day of testing!
Two of the rookie drivers to stand out from the crowd were the two Mexicans from Interwetten.com: Pablo Sanchez (3rd in Formula Master) and Sergio Perez (1st in the National Class of British F3). And the Americas in general seemed to have pride of place today, with Juan Manuel Polar (1st in Spanish F3B) testing at Red Devil Comtec and the Brazilian Mario Romancini (2nd in South American F3) with Prema Powerteam. Both from Formula Renault 2.0, Oliver Oakes and Alexandre Marsoin were making their debuts for Red Devil Comtec and KTR respectively.
This morning, Michaël Herck (Pons Racing) was the first to come close to the fastest time set yesterday by Charles Pic. After having completed thirty or so laps, Bertrand Baguette then switched to fresh tyres and set the fastest time of the morning with a lap in 1'16''059. Just before the break, most of the drivers had a shot at improving on the Belgian's time. Julien Jousse (Tech 1 Racing) missed out by only a tenth of a second. Right at the chequered flag, Marco Bonanomi then pushed Herck back into 4th position.
In the second session, the times were once again coming down towards the 1'16'' mark, despite the red flag being shown a couple of times during proceedings (Marsoin, Polar). Just before 4pm, Aleix Alcaraz (Pons Racing) then put two laps in quick succession in 1'16''105 and 1'16''007.
After another two red flags (Ivanov, Oakes), Charles Pic then started to improve strongly, with a lap in 1'15''915. Ivanov and Marsoin then caused the session to be interrupted on a couple more occasions, but that did nothing to stop Jousse (1'15''774) then Bonanomi (1'15''649) setting fastest times.
What they said...
Bertrand Baguette (Draco Racing): "We are starting to have a good understanding with the team. We changed a lot of things on the car overnight."
Charles Pic (Tech 1 Racing): "It's good to have Julien Jousse alongside me today. We have been discussing things a lot and he's a real mine of information and advice."
Craig Dolby (Fortec Motorsport): "I've had a terrible season and I want to make a return to form in this championship next year. I get on very well with this team."
Dani Clos (Epsilon Euskadi): "I could have set the fastest time this morning if another driver hadn't spun right in front of me!"
Marco Bonanomi (GD Racing): «As everyone knows the team won't be taking part in the Championship in 2008 and they wanted to show what they are capable of. I've really enjoyed this day today. Tomorrow I'll be testing with Interwetten.com."
Julien Jousse (Tech 1 Racing): «I set myself the target of doing a lap in 1'15'' but the red flags meant I wasn't able to do that. We have tested out a lot of different things on the car. I will also be there for testing in Valencia to prepare for the 2008 season with Tech 1.»
POS CAR / DRIVER TEAM LAPS TIME
1 MARCO BONANOMI GD Racing 48 01:15.649 2 JULIEN JOUSSE Tech 1 34 01:15.774 3 CHARLES PIC Tech 1 28 01:15.915 4 ALEIX ALCARAZ PONS 55 01:16.007 5 MARCO BARBA Draco Racing Team 23 01:16.069 6 DANI CLOS Epsilon Euskadi 35 01:16.135 7 PIPPA MANN Cram 44 01:16.147 8 EDOARDO PISCOPO Fortec 56 01:16.172 9 MICHAEL HERCK PONS 42 01:16.192 10 ROBERT MEHRI Epsilon Euskadi 57 01:16.210 11 CRAIG DOLBY Fortec 54 01:16.252 12 CARLOS IACONELLI KTR 38 01:16.370 13 ROBERT WICKENS Carlin 40 01:16.376 14 OLIVER OAKES COMTEC 48 01:16.452 15 PASQUALE DI SABATINO GD Racing 51 01:16.543 16 DANIIL MOVE RC Motorsport 36 01:16.548 17 SIMEON IVANOV Prema 26 01:16.657 18 SERGIO PEREZ Interwetten 48 01:16.687 19 JOHNNY CECOTTO RC Msport 15 01:16.845 20 ALEXANDRE MARSOIN KTR 49 01:16.907 21 MARIO ROMANCINI Prema 36 01:16.958 22 MARCELLO PUGLIESI Cram 50 01:16.974 23 JUAN POLAR COMTEC 33 01:17.150 24 PABLO SANCHEZ Interwetten 45 01:17.388
POS CAR / DRIVER TEAM LAPS TIME
1 BERTRAND BAGUETTE Draco Racing Team 69 01:16.059 2 JULIEN JOUSSE Tech 1 38 01:16.136 3 MARCO BONANOMI GD Racing 31 01:16.201 4 MICHAEL HERCK PONS 39 01:16.254 5 CHARLES PIC Tech 1 31 01:16.335 6 DANI CLOS Epsilon Euskadi 39 01:16.346 7 CRAIG DOLBY Fortec 53 01:16.375 8 DANIIL MOVE RC Motorsport 69 01:16.376 9 CARLOS IACONELLI KTR 44 01:16.420 10 MARCO BARBA Draco Racing Team 56 01:16.450 11 PASQUALE DI SABATINO GD Racing 45 01:16.451 12 EDOARDO PISCOPO Fortec 55 01:16.496 13 ROBERT MEHRI Epsilon Euskadi 46 01:16.566 14 JOHNNY CECOTTO RC Motorsport 41 01:16.579 15 OLIVER OAKES COMTEC 62 01:16.644 16 PIPPA MANN Cram 10 01:16:820 17 ROBERT WICKENS Carlin 38 01:16.927 18 SERGIO PEREZ Interwetten 55 01:17.114 19 SIMEON IVANOV Prema 40 01:17.235 20 PABLO SANCHEZ Interwetten 57 01:17.380 21 ALEXANDRE MARSOIN KTR 39 01:17.718 22 MARIO ROMANCINI Prema 43 01:17.977 23 JUAN POLAR COMTEC 55 01:18.364 24 ALEIX ALCARAZ PONS 9 01:19.097
