TWS Valencia : Times Friday

[JPMontoya]

Rising Spanish star Rafael Sarandeses ended the first day of official testing for the opening round of the Telefonica World Series at Valencia by posting the quickest time of the day, toppling former F1 racer Ricardo Zonta from the head of the pack.

The 23-year-old lapped his GD Racing-run Dallara-Nissan in 1m24.437s, pipping Zonta (Gabord Competicion) by a couple of tenths. He ended his day in the gravel trap at the final corner, however, after a quick spin in the closing moments of the session.

Heavy rain this week has washed away all the rubber usually left by F1 testing, so all of the drivers are complaining of a lack of grip compared with when they last tested here.

Reigning Spanish F3 champion Ander Vilarino was third quickest in his Epsilon by Graff-tended car, ahead of Franck Montagny (Racing Engineering), Angel Burgueno (Repsol Meycom) and ex-F3000 racer Bas Leinders (KTR).

Reigning FIA Formula 3000 champion Justin Wilson was seventh quickest in his Racing Engineering machine, but his climb up the timesheets was thwarted by no less than four red flags, which ate into the track time available, due to offs by Roberto Gonzalez, Tuka Rocha, Polo Villaamil, Nicolas Filiberti and Sarandeses..

1 Rafael Sarandeses, GD Racing, 1m24.437s
2 Ricardo Zonta, Gabord Competicion, 1m24.619s
3 Ander Vilarino, Epsilon by Graff, 1m24.733s
4 Franck Montagny, Racing Engineering, 1m24.835s
5 Angel Burgueno, Repsol Meycom, 1m25.140s
6 Bas Leinders, KTR, 1m25.263s
7 Justin Wilson, Racing Engineering, 1m25.641s
8 Jean-Christophe Ravier, Epsilon by Graff, 1m25.715s
9 Antonio Garcia, Adrian Campos Motorsport, 1m25.972s
10 Narain Karthikeyan, Tata RC Motorsport, 1m26.014s

autosport.com