Photo: Renault Sport/DPPI
Antonio Felix da Costa returned to the scene of his double victory in last year?s Formula Renault 3.5 season finale at Barcelona and topped the first day of the final pre-season test.
The Red Bull Junior?s time of 1m28.935s in the afternoon session was more than a second quicker than Jules Bianchi?s pole position at the circuit last year.
It was Kevin Magnussen on top in the morning session for DAMS with a 1m29.216s, 0.194s ahead of fellow McLaren young driver Stoffel Vandoorne.
Nearly six tenths away from his fellow Dane was third placed Marco Sorensen of Lotus, with the second DAMS car of Norman Nato in fourth. Arthur Pic was fifth fastest for AV Formula, two thousandths of a second ahead of Felix da Costa.
Sergey Sirotkin was seventh ahead of Oliver Webb, with Nico Muller and Marlon Stockinger completing the top ten.
Felix da Costa shaded Magnussen in the afternoon session by a mere 0.067s.
?It?s great to finish the day like this,? said the Portuguese star. ?The car was a little off balance to start with but we did some good work and got back on our feet.
?With the two sets of new tyres, we found a lot of pace from the off. We did have a few technical issues, though, and that held our programme up. I can?t wait to get out there tomorrow because we?re planning to try out a few new set-ups.?
Sorensen was again in third, ahead of Will Stevens, who said he hopes to be able to trouble the pre-season favourites.
?I?m very happy with our set-ups,? said the Brit. ?The weather was a lot more like the conditions we can expect during the season, so it?s essential to perform well and get some confidence.
?These are the last two days before the start of the championship and the work we?re doing here is very important. We?ll find out at Monza who?s done the best work this winter. Kevin and Antonio will be very solid, and Marco and Stoffel too. I hope to be in the mix too.?
Muller took fifth ahead of Jazeman Jaafar, the Malaysian fresh from a demonstration run with the Mercedes F1 team in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.? Carlin teammate Carlos Huertas was next, with Nato rounding out the top eight ahead of Sirotkin and Stockinger.
Morning session
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Kevin Magnussen | DAMS | 1:29.216 | 34 | |
| 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Fortec Motorsports | 1:29.410 | +0.194 | 29 |
| 3 | Marco Sorensen | Lotus | 1:29.812 | +0.596 | 39 |
| 4 | Norman Nato | DAMS | 1:29.906 | +0.690 | 35 |
| 5 | Arthur Pic | AV Formula | 1:29.993 | +0.777 | 31 |
| 6 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Arden Caterham Motorsport | 1:29.995 | +0.779 | 46 |
| 7 | Sergey Sirotkin | ISR | 1:29.997 | +0.781 | 43 |
| 8 | Oliver Webb | Fortec Motorsports | 1:30.061 | +0.845 | 34 |
| 9 | Nico Muller | International Draco Racing | 1:30.103 | +0.887 | 37 |
| 10 | Marlon Stockinger | Lotus | 1:30.146 | +0.930 | 30 |
| 11 | Will Stevens | P1 Motorsport | 1:30.255 | +1.039 | 26 |
| 12 | Carlos Huertas | Carlin | 1:30.463 | +1.247 | 35 |
| 13 | Nikolay Martsenko | Pons Racing | 1:30.525 | +1.309 | 42 |
| 14 | Nigel Melker | Tech 1 Racing | 1:30.634 | +1.418 | 37 |
| 15 | Pietro Fantin | Arden Caterham Motorsport | 1:30.661 | +1.445 | 41 |
| 16 | Mikhail Aleshin | Tech 1 Racing | 1:30.722 | +1.506 | 43 |
| 17 | Lucas Foresti | SMP Racing by Comtec | 1:30.737 | +1.521 | 39 |
| 18 | Zoel Amberg | Pons Racing | 1:30.752 | +1.536 | 41 |
| 19 | Jazeman Jaafar | Carlin | 1:30.764 | +1.548 | 21 |
| 20 | Daniil Move | SMP Racing by Comtec | 1:30.838 | +1.622 | 24 |
| 21 | Christopher Zanella | ISR | 1:31.029 | +1.813 | 30 |
| 22 | Mihai Marinescu | Zeta Corse | 1:31.435 | +2.219 | 44 |
| 23 | Andre Negrao | International Draco Racing | 1:31.449 | +2.233 | 16 |
| 24 | Matias Laine | P1 Motorsport | 1:31.761 | +2.545 | 20 |
| 25 | Yann Cunha | AV Formula | 1:31.797 | +2.581 | 42 |
| 26 | Dino Zamparelli | Zeta Corse | 1:33.094 | +3.878 | 29 |
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Afternoon session
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Arden Caterham Motorsport | 1:28.935 | 27 | |
| 2 | Kevin Magnussen | DAMS | 1:29.002 | +0.067 | 49 |
| 3 | Marco Sorensen | Lotus | 1:29.143 | +0.208 | 39 |
| 4 | Will Stevens | P1 Motorsport | 1:29.229 | +0.294 | 34 |
| 5 | Nico Muller | International Draco Racing | 1:29.458 | +0.523 | 35 |
| 6 | Jazeman Jaafar | Carlin | 1:29.496 | +0.561 | 33 |
| 7 | Carlos Huertas | Carlin | 1:29.639 | +0.704 | 33 |
| 8 | Norman Nato | DAMS | 1:29.680 | +0.745 | 38 |
| 9 | Sergey Sirotkin | ISR | 1:29.703 | +0.768 | 19 |
| 10 | Marlon Stockinger | Lotus | 1:29.737 | +0.802 | 22 |
| 11 | Arthur Pic | AV Formula | 1:29.772 | +0.837 | 33 |
| 12 | Pietro Fantin | Arden Caterham Motorsport | 1:29.937 | +1.002 | 33 |
| 13 | Oliver Webb | Fortec Motorsports | 1:29.953 | +1.018 | 31 |
| 14 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Fortec Motorsports | 1:30.013 | +1.078 | 15 |
| 15 | Nigel Melker | Tech 1 Racing | 1:30.037 | +1.102 | 37 |
| 16 | Matias Laine | P1 Motorsport | 1:30.248 | +1.313 | 39 |
| 17 | Lucas Foresti | SMP Racing by Comtec | 1:30.288 | +1.353 | 35 |
| 18 | Daniil Move | SMP Racing by Comtec | 1:30.373 | +1.438 | 26 |
| 19 | Christopher Zanella | ISR | 1:30.416 | +1.481 | 23 |
| 20 | Andre Negrao | International Draco Racing | 1:30.474 | +1.539 | 22 |
| 21 | Mikhail Aleshin | Tech 1 Racing | 1:30.565 | +1.630 | 36 |
| 22 | Zoel Amberg | Pons Racing | 1:30.633 | +1.698 | 25 |
| 23 | Yann Cunha | AV Formula | 1:30.819 | +1.884 | 38 |
| 24 | Mihai Marinescu | Zeta Corse | 1:31.044 | +2.109 | 35 |
| 25 | Nikolay Martsenko | Pons Racing | 1:31.056 | +2.121 | 21 |
| 26 | Dino Zamparelli | Zeta Corse | 1:31.090 | +2.155 | 37 |
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