The first day of collective Renault 3.5 test held at Motorland Aragon, close to the city of Alcaniz, warmed the hearts and the hopes of the AVF pit crew. The Spanish squad, directed by Adrian Valles, welcomed a great performance by Beitske Visser. The Dutch female racer cruised to third place in the opening session that was held this morning, before scoring 7th place in the afternoon. Visser continued in the consistent improvement that highlighted her 2014 season, which also brought a top-5 finish in Jerez, and continued to show how quickly she can improve even further.
The second AVF car on-track today was handed to rookie Matevos Isaakyan, a 16-year-old Russian racer coming from the SMP program who ended up the 2014 Renault ALPS season in third. Isaakyan was invited to the test by Renault and showed a great approach that impressed Team Principal Adrián Vallés. He also scored impressive marks, climbing up to the 11th spot in the first test and the 15th in the afternoon, after being slowed down by a red flag.
The AVF squad will be back in the other two days of testing with Visser and with Polish rookie Alex Bosak. Coming from Poland, the latter raced in the 2014 Formula Renault ALPS championship.
Beitske Visser (#19) Test 1 – P3; Test 2 – P7
“I was quick straight away, finding the right pace since the early part of the day. The laptimes scored in the opening session confirms that, but unfortunately, in the second one, a red flag forced me to abandon my attempt on new tires. We also did a lot of set-up experiments that will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday, trying to stay at the front end of the charts”.
Matevos Isaakyan (#20) Test 1 – P11; Test 2 – P15
“This test was a prize that Renault awarded me for the third place scored in the ALPS Series, and I thank SMP for having supported me in this occasion. The car is simply amazing and I admit I probably wasn’t ready for a full day of testing. It was extremely fun and interesting, and I also want to thanks AVF for allowing me to make this experience. Now I will refocus on my 2015 program that will involve running in both the Eurocup Renault and in the Renault ALPS series”.