Ricciardo on top in practice two

Date published : 13 May 2011 - 15:20:24

After his impressive grand prix practice performances with Toro Rosso recently, Red Bull Junior driver Daniel Ricciardo again produced the goods by setting the fastest lap in this afternoon's second Formula Renault 3.5 free practice session at Monza.The 2010 series runner-up's time of 1m37.246s eclipsed the previous benchmark held by Alexander Rossi with a little over two minutes of the session remaining. Australian Ricciardo is chasing his first win of the season with his new team ISR. The partnership had a tough debut race outing in round two at Spa-Francorchamps.Fortec's Rossi hung on to claim second, just 0.137s adrift, while Brendon Hartley repeated his morning result of third with 2011 newcomer Gravity-Charouz. Hartley's team-mate Jan Charouz will take a six-place grid penalty for tomorrow's race after an accident during an overtaking manoeuvre at Spa.Championship leader Robert Wickens ended the afternoon in fourth for Carlin, 0.01s ahead of Epic Racing's Albert Costa.Draco Racing's Stephane Richelmi held P1 for much of the session, but the 2010 Italian Formula 3 runner-up encountered problems towards the end of the session and, along with Comtec's Daniel de Jong, had to be towed back to pits."Stephane saw a red light on the dashboard and stopped as a precaution," said Draco team manager Nadia Morini. "We have looked over the car and it seems to be fine so we hope it is just an electrical mistake."Qualifying for the second Formula Renault 3.5 race at Monza will take place late on Saturday afternoon rather than its more established timeslot on Sunday morning."It could influence your approach to race one," confessed Comtec's Daniel McKenzie. "Accidents in these cars often tend to require overnight work to repair them, rather than being sorted out properly in an hour or so after a race. If someone has dramas in race one, it could leave them with a lot of problems."Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Daniel Ricciardo ISR 1m37.246s 2. Alexander Rossi Fortec 1m37.383s + 0.137s 3. Brendon Hartley Gravity-Charouz 1m37.575s + 0.329s 4. Robert Wickens Carlin 1m37.692s + 0.446s 5. Albert Costa Epic 1m37.702s + 0.456s 6. Cesar Ramos Fortec 1m37.782s + 0.536s 7. Stephane Richelmi Draco 1m38.003s + 0.757s 8. Sergio Canamasas BVM Target 1m38.064s + 0.818s 9. Arthur Pic Tech 1 1m38.094s + 0.848s10. Jean-Eric Vergne Carlin 1m38.152s + 0.906s11. Kevin Korjus Tech 1 1m38.156s + 0.910s12. Andre Negrao Draco 1m38.183s + 0.937s13. Jan Charouz Gravity-Charouz 1m38.229s + 0.983s14. Daniel Zampieri BVM Target 1m38.297s + 1.051s15. Anton Nebylitskiy KMP 1m38.298s + 1.052s16. Daniil Move P1 1m38.330s + 1.084s17. Nathanael Berthon ISR 1m38.330s + 1.084s18. Sten Pentus Epic 1m38.342s + 1.096s19. Jake Rosenzweig Mofaz 1m38.354s + 1.108s20. Chris van der Drift Mofaz 1m38.530s + 1.284s21. Filip Salaquarda Pons 1m38.548s + 1.302s22. Oliver Webb Pons 1m38.648s + 1.402s23. Walter Grubmuller P1 1m38.722s + 1.476s24. Nelson Panciatici KMP 1m39.114s + 1.868s25. Daniel de Jong Comtec 1m39.134s + 1.888s26. Daniel McKenzie Comtec 1m39.394s + 2.148s