FR 3.5: Quaife-Hobbs quickest again, Dillmann top rookie in final test of 2010

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs has topped another day of Formula Renault 3.5 testing at the Motorland Aragon circuit, continuing the British driver's strong run of performances in post-season running.

The Comtec man produced a best of 1m42.557s during the morning session to beat BVM Target's Mirko Bortolotti by two-tenths. Quaife-Hobbs has now topped three out of five post-season tests and ended all among the top-four.

A total of 30 drivers ran over the course of the day, 25 of whom were invited by championship organisers Renault Sport Technologies to sample FR 3.5 machinery ahead of the 2011 campaign. The afternoon session was reserved for the invitees, with Formula 3 and Formula Renault 2.0 champions from across the globe hitting the track.

Quickest of these was German F3 title-winner Tom Dillmann. The French driver tested for the ISR team and was within three-tenths of Quaife-Hobbs’s time, leaving him third overall for the day.

Also impressive were F3 Euro Series race-winner Valtteri Bottas (Tech1) and German F3's Kevin Magnussen (Pons), who were fourth and sixth fastest overall respectively. Next up among the invitees were Marco Barba (Draco) and Jean Eric Vergne (Carlin), both of whom have prior racing experience of the series.

The test was the series’ final activity of the year, with pre-season testing in early 2011 the next time the cars will take to the track.


James Weeks.