Red-hot Stockinger posts fastest time

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino racer Marlon Stockinger continued to turn in impressive showing in Barcelona, Spain clocking the day’s best lap of 1:30.218 in Day Two of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series testing sessions at the Circuit de Barcelona recently.

Stockinger set the fast pace right in the afternoon flag-off to post the fastest time after 50 minutes. Though his rivals closed the gap in the final hour, none of them could dislodge the Lotus racer from the top of the timesheets.

“It was a pleasure to test with the championship-winning team, even if we had a few problems to deal with,” said Stockinger. “It’s been a perfect day back with Lotus. The team gave me a fantastic car. Judging by the gap we had on the others and the way we improved every day, we should sign up for another season together.”

Zoel Amberg, who switched from Pons Racing to Arden Caterham, came in second while Carlin’s Antonio Felix da Costa and Tech 1 Racing’s Raffaele Marciello placed third and fourth, respectively.

Matias Laine of Strakka Racing wound up fifth.

Meanwhile, Will Stevens, also of Strakka Racing, dominated the morning races while FR 3.5 Series newcomers Matthew Vaxiviere, also of Lotus, and Tech I Racing’s Raffaele Marciello made quite an impression by placing in the Top Five.

Fortec Motorsports’ Oliver Rowland, on the other hand, finished among the 10 fastest drivers in both the morning and afternoon testing sessions.

“I felt at ease in the car straightaway. It demands an incredible amount of power from your arms and neck. I wasn’t expecting that at all. It’s physically demanding but I think I came out of it OK, even if Stockinger was a little bit too quick for us,” said Rowland.

British driver Alexander Sims (Carlin), a race winner in GP3 Series this year, and South Korea’s Che Won Im (Pons Racing), who has been competing in European F3 Open, also made their debut in the event.