The Aussie Will Power, testing for Carlin Motorsport, has been the quickest World Series driver in Barcelona. Top Team Pons Racing rejoins the 2005 Season and places Vallés in the top 3 (Wednesday).
The British team Carlin Motorsport has been the fastest at the end of Day One of testing, here in the Circuit of Catalunya (4,627 km). Will Power put-in an impressive lap, setting the best time in 1.28.774 on the afternoon session, 0.479 seconds faster than the best time registered in the morning by Robert Kubica. Moreover, Power has beaten by one second the best qualifying lap time of the World Series in Catalunya, in a Dallara-Nissan car.
Will Power says just discovering the track: “It’s only my first time in Barcelona, and I love the track. It’s very good and technical; I like specially the last two corners. The track conditions were perfect during the beginning of the afternoon and I was also very lucky to get a clear lap.”
Indeed, the first day of testing in Barcelona was quite a red-flagged one! Certainly, for some drivers this test will be the last chance to secure his drive. For the Teams, its time to test how the team gets along with the new personnel: drivers, race engineers, mechanics, even Team Managers…
Most of the drivers did not profit their new tyres as they were expected. Kubica (Epsilon Euskadi) had a problem in the gear-box and could not improve his times although he was the quickest driver after the morning session. Tomorrow Felix Porteiro will be testing all day.
Third overall was the Spaniard promise Adrian Vallés, only 0.001 seconds slower than Kubica, but far from being happy, Vallés was complaining about the red-flags, that spoiled his last run: “I’m ready and fit for the Season. I have used a set of tyres early in the afternoon but this was going to be my best run for sure. Pons Racing will test the runner-up driver in the WS Light, Celso Miguez.
The Team Saulnier Racing has tested with Simon Pagenaud and Ryo Fukuda. Pagenaud was the fourth quickest driver of the day. Salignon will test with French outfit tomorrow. FRV6 frontrunner Christian Montanari needed only 6 laps to set the 5th best lap time of the day, which means that the San Marino driver is ready to join any of the competitive drives that still have to be confirmed in the WSbR
World Series by Renault- Circuit de Catalunya Collective Test (Day One)
23 February 2005
Driver Team Time Gap Km/h
1 Will POWER( AUS) Carlin Motorsport 1'28.774 187.62 Robert KUBICA(POL) Epsilon Euskadi 1'29.253 0.479 186.63 Adrian VALLES(SPA) Pons Racing 1'29.745 0.492 186.64 Simon PAGENAUD( FRA) Saulnier Racing 1'29.625 0.372 185.95 Christian MONTANARI(RSM) Draco Multiracing Usa 1.29.757 0.983 185.66 Jaap VAN LAGEN(NED) KTR 1'30.056 1.282 185.07 Damien PASINI(FRA) Cram Competition 1'30.151 1.377 184.88 Markus WINKELHOCK(GER) Draco Multiracing Usa 1'30.340 1.566 184.49 Colin FLEMING(USA) Jenzer Motorsport 1.30.894 2.120 183.310 Raffaele GIAMMARIA(ITA) GD Racing 1'30.996 2.222 183.111 Eric SALIGNON(FRA) Cram Competition 1.31.236 2.462 182.612 Stefano PROETTO(ITA) Interwetten 1.31.535 2.761 182.013 Patrick PILET(FRA) Jenzer Motorsport 1'31.656 2.882 181.714 Partiva SURESHWAREN(IND) RC Motorsport 1.31.926 3.152 181.215 Pastor MALDONADO(VEN) Dams 1'31.965 3.191 181.116 Matteo MENEGHELLO(ITA) Eurointernational 1'32.500 3.726 180.117 Alx DANIELSSON(SWE) Dams 1’32.937 4.163 179.218 Ryo FUKUDA(JPN) Saulnier Racing 1’33.692 4.918 177.819 Ivan BELLAROSA(ITA) Avelon Formula 1'33.734 4.969 176.5
