Robert Wickens became the first driver this year to deny ISR's Daniel Ricciardo top spot in a Formula Renault 3.5 test session at Barcelona today.
The Canadian Carlin driver was fastest in this afternoon's wet running, recording a lap of 1m55.321sec. However, Red Bull's Formula 1 reserve driver Ricciardo maintained honor courtesy of his 1m54.303sec this morning, which remained the fastest overall time of the day.
"The day went fairly well," said Wickens. "We stayed to the test plan and got quite a lot accomplished, which, considering the weather, was quite an achievement.
"It's good to be quickest in the afternoon, but I don't think the times from today are an accurate reflection [on the competitive order] as the conditions and everyone's tire strategies were so variable. However, the car felt good, I think we have a good wet setup here, and it's always a nice boost for the team to finish at the top of the time sheets."
Ricciardo, fellow Red Bull junior driver Jean-Eric Vergne and Wickens had also been in attendance at Barcelona's F1 test last week. Australia's Ricciardo has experience of Barcelona in damp conditions from 2010's collective test and nail-biting title decider, and declared himself satisfied with the ongoing acclimatization to his new Czech team ISR after taking second to Wickens this afternoon.
"It always seems to rain when we are in Barcelona," said Ricciardo. "The rain was really heavy toward the end of the morning, to the point where I didn't think we would get any running this afternoon. Thankfully, the weather settled enough for us to do some good testing in the wet. I feel like I'm gaining more experience and more confidence with the team, so we're in good shape."
Alexander Rossi was fastest of the rookies in the afternoon. The American finished four tenths behind Ricciardo in third in his Fortec entry. His teammate and reigning Italian Formula 3 champion Cesar Ramos ended the afternoon in fourth position.
Albert Costa, who suffered from debilitating flu at this season's Motorland test, took a solid fifth ahead of British Formula 3 champion Vergne. Owing to the treacherous conditions, Frenchman Vergne struggled to capitalize on his new tires, but was optimistic of improvement for Wednesday's concluding day of running.
"We had a little bit of a problem as the tires were going off quite quickly, but we still made progress," said Vergne. "The time we did doesn't really reflect the work we did during the day; every time we put new tires on, the track got wetter or there was a red flag, but we're in a good position to make more progress tomorrow."
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Robert Wickens Carlin 1m55.321s 35
2. Daniel Ricciardo ISR 1m55.405s + 0.084s 41
3. Alexander Rossi Fortec 1m55.801s + 0.480s 14
4. Cesar Ramos Fortec 1m56.015s + 0.694s 19
5. Albert Costa Epsilon Euskadi 1m56.026s + 0.705s 27
6. Jean Eric Vergne Carlin 1m56.346s + 1.025s 35
7. Arthur Pic Tech 1 1m56.360s + 1.039s 46
8. Brendon Hartley Gravity-Charouz 1m56.492s + 1.171s 34
9. Miki Monras Pons 1m56.815s + 1.494s 47
10. Oliver Webb Pons 1m56.998s + 1.677s 42
11. Andre Negrao Draco 1m57.003s + 1.682s 42
12. Jake Rosenzweig Mofaz 1m57.151s + 1.830s 37
13. Nathanael Berthon ISR 1m57.232s + 1.911s 32
14. Walter Grubmuller P1 1m57.479s + 2.158s 26
15. Jan Charouz Gravity-Charouz 1m57.580s + 2.259s 25
16. Kevin Korjus Tech 1 1m57.637s + 2.316s 40
17. Stephane Richelmi Draco 1m57.816s + 2.495s 43
18. Daniel de Jong Comtec 1m58.113s + 2.792s 38
19. Nelson Panciatici KMP 1m58.218s + 2.897s 23
20. Daniel McKenzie Comtec 1m58.820s + 3.499s 28
21. Daniil Move P1 1m59.048s + 3.727s 40
22. Daniel Zampieri BVM Target 1m59.221s + 3.900s 30
23. Anton Nebylitskiy KMP 1m59.272s + 3.951s 24
24. Sergio Canamasas BVM Target 1m59.547s + 4.226s 32