Silverstone – Collective testing 1

With his confidence running high, Valtteri Bottas (Motorpark Academy) has started the Silverstone meeting in the best possible manner by clocking the fastest time on the first day of collective testing. The Finn was followed by British driver Dean Smith (Fortec Motorsport) and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 leader, Daniel Ricciardo (SG Formula).

The sun was shining as the forty-two Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 competitors turned out at Silverstone for today's two sessions of collective testing.

Fresh from his two Formula Renault 2.0 NEC wins at Zandvoort last weekend, Valtteri Bottas (Motorpark Academy) set the pace early on. BVM Minardi Team's Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Cesar Ramos were also looking in menacing form.

With a little under half an hour gone, Bottas stepped up the pace and reclaimed the lead with a lap timed at 1'50''008. The Finnish driver would repeatedly improve on this time, eventually whittling it down to 1'49''113.

Daniel Ricciardo, who held the second fastest-time at that point, wasted no time in hitting back and snatching first place. But, as is so often the case, it all came down to what happened at the end of the session. Valtteri Bottas went back on the offensive and once again took the lead with a time of 1'48''236, while Roberto Mehri climbed to second, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Nelson Lukes (SG Formula) and Dean Smith (Fortec Motorsport).

The day's second session would see the drivers improve their times significantly. Daniel Ricciardo was the first man to beat Bottas's time from session 1. The whole field immediately pushed hard and the standings changed lap by lap. Valtteri Bottas, Himar Costa (Iquick), Cesar Ramos (BVM Minardi Team), Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (BVM Minardi Team), Stéphane Richelmi (Epsilon Sport) and Dean Smith (Fortec Motorsport) took turns in the lead.

On fresh tyres, Valtteri Bottas was unstoppable. His lap time of 1'46''613 was more than half a second quicker than the best effort of second-placed Dean Smith. Daniel Ricciardo finished third, followed by Roberto Mehri and Stéphane Richelmi.

Valtteri Bottas: "Like pretty much everyone else, I've never driven here before, so at the start I focused on familiarizing myself with the track. I forced myself to take the fast bends quickly, and that helped me grow in confidence. Those bends are where you can gain valuable seconds. We've got a good setup for clocking a fast time on fresh tyres, now we have to work on our race setup."

Dean Smith: "This is the first time I've driven on the Grand-Prix circuit. When I raced here in Formula Renault 2.0 UK we used a shorter track, which was quite different. Things are going a lot better than at Spa-Francorchamps. We're learning fast and hopefully we'll get a good result this weekend. It's an important meeting for us, but the last thing we need to do is put too much pressure on ourselves."

Stéphane Richelmi: "I like this track. At the start it takes a lot of effort to get a good time in, but once you've got the hang of it's a really enjoyable drive. We've got a good basic setup. It's an encouraging start to the weekend, especially as I feel we can still get better."

POS NUMBER DRIVER TEAM LAP TIME GAP_FIRST KPH LAPS  1 21 Giedo Van Der GARDE P1 MOTORSPORT 16 1:34.385 - 196.0 32   2 25 Marco BONANOMI RED DEVIL TEAM COMTEC 22 1:34.523 +0.138 195.8 30   3 3 Bertrand BAGUETTE INTERNATIONAL DRACO RACING 29 1:34.552 +0.167 195.7 38   4 10 Alvaro BARBA PREMA POWERTEAM 31 1:34.931 +0.546 194.9 31   5 23 James WALKER FORTEC MOTORSPORT 32 1:35.030 +0.645 194.7 33   6 6 Robert WICKENS CARLIN MOTORSPORT 28 1:35.074 +0.689 194.6 28   7 15 Marcos MARTINEZ PONS RACING 22 1:35.140 +0.755 194.5 29   8 27 Fabio CARBONE ULTIMATE-SIGNATURE 12 1:35.310 +0.925 194.1 21   9 4 Marco BARBA INTERNATIONAL DRACO RACING 20 1:35.323 +0.938 194.1 22   10 8 Alexandre MARSOIN EPSILON-EUSKADI 34 1:35.354 +0.969 194.1 35   11 17 Guillaume MOREAU KTR 20 1:35.388 +1.003 194.0 23   12 5 Mikhail ALESHIN CARLIN MOTORSPORT 30 1:35.547 +1.162 193.7 31   13 28 Esteban GUERRIERI ULTIMATE-SIGNATURE 24 1:35.612 +1.227 193.5 27   14 1 Julien JOUSSE TECH 1 RACING 19 1:35.854 +1.469 193.0 23   15 9 Miguel MOLINA PREMA POWERTEAM 23 1:35.888 +1.503 193.0 29   16 14 Maximo CORTES PONS RACING 26 1:36.061 +1.676 192.6 29   17 19 Salvador DURAN INTERWETTEN.COM RACING 16 1:36.105 +1.720 192.5 31   18 24 Fairuz FAUZY FORTEC MOTORSPORT 21 1:36.370 +1.985 192.0 21   19 2 Charles PIC TECH 1 RACING 30 1:36.580 +2.195 191.6 31   20 7 Mario ROMANCINI EPSILON-EUSKADI 37 1:36.921 +2.536 190.9 37   21 22 Pippa MANN P1 MOTORSPORT 24 1:37.311 +2.926 190.2 34   22 20 Pablo SANCHEZ INTERWETTEN.COM RACING 17 1:37.350 +2.965 190.1 20   23 12 Duncan TAPPY RC MOTORSPORT 14 1:37.425 +3.040 189.9 30   24 26 Pasquale DiSABATINO RED DEVIL TEAM COMTEC 25 1:37.457 +3.072 189.9 28   25 11 Aleix ALCARAZ RC MOTORSPORT 30 1:37.480 +3.095 189.8 34   26 16 Daniil MOVE KTR 27 1:38.506 +4.121 187.8 32  

POS NUMBER DRIVER TEAM LAP TIME GAP_FIRST KPH LAPS  1 6 Robert WICKENS CARLIN MOTORSPORT 28 1:33.783 - 197.3 31   2 27 Fabio CARBONE ULTIMATE-SIGNATURE 26 1:33.861 +0.078 197.1 29   3 3 Bertrand BAGUETTE INTERNATIONAL DRACO RACING 25 1:33.867 +0.084 197.1 29   4 1 Julien JOUSSE TECH 1 RACING 18 1:34.219 +0.436 196.4 30   5 23 James WALKER FORTEC MOTORSPORT 24 1:34.249 +0.466 196.3 26   6 5 Mikhail ALESHIN CARLIN MOTORSPORT 23 1:34.382 +0.599 196.1 28   7 10 Alvaro BARBA PREMA POWERTEAM 28 1:34.525 +0.742 195.8 28   8 4 Marco BARBA INTERNATIONAL DRACO RACING 26 1:34.552 +0.769 195.7 30   9 24 Fairuz FAUZY FORTEC MOTORSPORT 29 1:34.586 +0.803 195.6 32   10 2 Charles PIC TECH 1 RACING 23 1:34.599 +0.816 195.6 35   11 28 Esteban GUERRIERI ULTIMATE-SIGNATURE 30 1:34.606 +0.823 195.6 31   12 25 Marco BONANOMI RED DEVIL TEAM COMTEC 21 1:34.730 +0.947 195.3 26   13 8 Alexandre MARSOIN EPSILON-EUSKADI 26 1:34.801 +1.018 195.2 28   14 19 Salvador DURAN INTERWETTEN.COM RACING 30 1:34.836 +1.053 195.1 34   15 9 Miguel MOLINA PREMA POWERTEAM 25 1:34.909 +1.126 195.0 28   16 21 Giedo Van Der GARDE P1 MOTORSPORT 6 1:34.960 +1.177 194.9 23   17 14 Maximo CORTES PONS RACING 22 1:35.077 +1.294 194.6 22   18 26 Pasquale DiSABATINO RED DEVIL TEAM COMTEC 21 1:35.176 +1.393 194.4 24   19 7 Mario ROMANCINI EPSILON-EUSKADI 26 1:35.202 +1.419 194.4 29   20 22 Pippa MANN P1 MOTORSPORT 23 1:35.489 +1.706 193.8 32   21 20 Pablo SANCHEZ INTERWETTEN.COM RACING 29 1:35.599 +1.816 193.6 33   22 11 Aleix ALCARAZ RC MOTORSPORT 17 1:35.609 +1.826 193.5 26   23 15 Marcos MARTINEZ PONS RACING 13 1:36.012 +2.229 192.7 14   24 12 Duncan TAPPY RC MOTORSPORT 19 1:36.014 +2.231 192.7 25   25 17 Guillaume MOREAU KTR 11 1:36.084 +2.301 192.6 23   26 16 Daniil MOVE KTR 31 1:36.753 +2.970 191.2 33