Tio Ellinas on top in Formula Renault 3.5 at Silverstone 04.09.2015: FORMULA RENAULT 3.5 SERIES Tio Ellinas (Strakka Racing) put in the best lap of the Formula Renault

FORMULA RENAULT 3.5 SERIES



 
Tio Ellinas (Strakka Racing) put in the best lap of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series collective tests run at Silverstone.


The Cypriot set the reference time of 1:41.494 to lead the way ahead of Red Bull Junior Team driver, Dean Stoneman (DAMS), the fastest rookie on Friday and Lotus F1 Team Junior protégé, Matthieu Vaxiviere (Lotus). Championship leader, Oliver Rowland (Fortec Motorsports) was fourth quickest.


In the morning, Brazilian Pietro Fantin (International Draco Racing) was a top the time sheet.


Fantin in the morning

In what was a lively session, Matthieu Vaxiviere clocked the first benchmark time, which was quickly beaten by Jazeman Jaafar (Fortec Motorsports), who was also responsible for the first red flag incident of the day.


Dean Stoneman, Nyck de Vries (DAMS), Pietro Fantin and Tio Ellinas all took turns at the sharp end of the order. Pietro Fantin’s time of 1:43.056 was good enough for best time of the session ahead of Matthieu Vaxiviere, Nyck de Vries, Tio Ellinas, who provoked a second stoppage late in the session, and Dean Stoneman.



Ellinas gets the final word

In the afternoon, the drivers quickly approached the time of Pietro Fantin before an interruption caused by Nicholas Latifi (Arden Motorsport). When the action resumed, Nyvk de Vries was the first to beat the Brazilian’s reference time.


Tio Ellinas, Egor Orudzhev (Arden Motorsport) and Nicholas Latifi each took turns at the top of the time sheet, but the 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion replied. Nevertheless, Tio Ellinas answered with a time of 1:41.494 to end the day ahead of Dean Stoneman, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Oliver Rowland and Nyck de Vries.



Quotes


Tio Ellinas: “Everything started good before a problem that saw us miss the final 10 minutes of the morning session. We still managed to finish fourth. In the afternoon, we prepared for the race and the pit stops before working on the balance and putting on new tyres for the end of the session.


We will aim for the same result tomorrow. I also hope our bad luck will be a thing of the past for the second half of the season. I am aiming for third place while waiting to see what Matthieu and Oliver get as results. “


Dean Stoneman: “This is a very tough and demanding circuit on the body. Corners like Copse are taken flat out! Despite a few blocks and traffic on my best laps that handicapped my times, we progressed throughout the day. This weekend, all the fans will be British and I will do my best with the team to win.”


Pietro Fantin: “The morning session went very well despite traffic when I switched to new tyres. We have worked to improve certain aspects of the car. I think that we can do even better and battle for the top three places tomorrow.


This season, luck hasn’t been on our side but I would like to get on the podium as often as possible from here to the end of the season.”

- Blanca de Foronda, photo Renault