Robin Frijns completed his stellar preseason by topping the final day of Formula Renault 3.5 testing at Aragon on Thursday.
The reigning Formula Renault Eurocup champion has topped four of the six days of testing ahead of the 2012 season, which kicks off at Aragon on May 5-6. Frijns set his best time in the morning session, after Richie Stanaway and Force India Formula 1 test driver Jules Bianchi had brief spells on top.
Teams spent part of the afternoon session concentrating on pit stop practice, and any chance of faster times being set by the leaders was effectively eliminated when a rain shower hit mid-afternoon. That left Will Stevens, Arthur Pic and Sam Bird completing the top six, while GP3 race winner Nico Muller was seventh quickest overall and fastest in the afternoon running.
Bianchi, who was in action for Force India during free practice in last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, revealed that he will not join up with the team in Bahrain this weekend so he can focus on preparing for his first season in the Renault-backed championship after two years in GP2.
"With Formula 1 and Formula Renault 3.5, I really need to take a lot of things into consideration and focus," he said. "I'm not going to Bahrain because I want to devote all my attention to the first World Series by Renault meeting.
"[In testing] we've had all the conditions we should come across this season. We've worked on the races, qualifying, pit stops, starts, in the dry and in the wet. I feel we're ready – all we need to do now is put it all into practice."
Drivers were also given a written test based on the rules of the championship at Aragon, to give series organizers an idea of which areas of the rulebook to focus on during drivers' briefings this season.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Robin Frijns Fortec Motorsports 1m39.105s
2. Richie Stanaway Lotus 1m39.259s + 0.154s
3. Jules Bianchi Tech 1 Racing 1m39.406s + 0.301s
4. Will Stevens Carlin 1m39.422s + 0.317s
5. Arthur Pic Dams 1m39.422s + 0.317s
6. Sam Bird Isr 1m39.437s + 0.332s
7. Nico Müller International Draco Racing 1m39.497s + 0.392s
8. Carlos Huertas Fortec Motorsports 1m39.507s + 0.402s
9. Daniil Move P1 Motorsport 1m39.733s + 0.628s
10. Nick Yelloly Comtec Racing 1m39.841s + 0.736s
11. Kevin Magnussen Carlin 1m39.979s + 0.874s
12. Walter Grubmüller P1 Motorsport 1m39.983s + 0.878s
13. Marco Sorensen Lotus 1m39.985s + 0.880s
14. Kevin Korjus Tech 1 Racing 1m40.009s + 0.904s
15. Andre Negrao International Draco Racing 1m40.092s + 0.987s
16. Mikhail Aleshin Team Rfr 1m40.192s + 1.087s
17. Vittorio Ghirelli Comtec Racing 1m40.252s + 1.147s
18. Zoel Amberg Pons Racing 1m40.300s + 1.195s
19. Alexander Rossi Arden Caterham 1m40.315s + 1.210s
20. Jake Rosenzweig Isr 1m40.421s + 1.316s
21. Nicolay Martsenko Bvm Target 1m40.542s + 1.437s
22. Andy Soucek Pons Racing 1m40.621s + 1.516s
23. Lucas Foresti Dams 1m40.932s + 1.827s
24. Giovanni Venturini Bvm Target 1m40.948s + 1.843s
25. Lewis Williamson Arden Caterham 1m41.040s + 1.935s
26. Yann Cunha Pons Racing 1m41.814s + 2.709s
27. Anton Nebylitskiy Team Rfr 1m42.011s + 2.906s