The second of four official 2 day test sessions were held at Spain´s Motorland Aragon Circuit on the 6-7th of March, in preparation for the 2011 season start at the same track in mid-April. A total of 37 Formula Renault cars tested at the Motorland circuit under the strict guidance of the Renault Sport Management team.
15 year old Thai racer Sandy Stuvik, a student at the Garden International School near Pattaya, knew he had a lot to learn and time to catch up from the previous week’s test in France, but was still surprised by the initial lack of pace compared to the other cars.
This was Sandy´s first test on this new circuit, which is situated in the center of northern Spain. The race track itself is one of the newest in Europe, only just finished for racing in the last few years. The track is ultra smooth and very fast, with several high speed corners and long straights.
Sandy Stuvik drives his Formula Renault car during testing at the Motorland Aragon Circuit in Spain on March 7, 2011.
The young Thai driver was only setting times at the bottom of the field and felt he was completely off the pace, just as he had been at the Paul Ricard Circuit. After consultation with the team, and given approval from the series management, Sandy was allowed to change to a spare car for the final 2 hours of running on the last day. He immediately improved his time dramatically and even though the wind had picked up and almost everyone else was going slower, the young Thai driver kept improving his time with every lap. The spare car, virtually without any set up, went a full second faster and allowed Sandy to climb up to 23rd fastest for the day with a time of 1:57:60 and a top speed of 242kph.
Both Sandy and the team left the Aragon Circuit in good spirits heading for the third official testing at the Catalunya Circuit outside Barcelona, due to take place this week.
