By alley - Apr 9, 2016, 3:31 PM ET

FV8 3.5: Orudzhev leads very close Aragon test

Egor Orudzhev led the way on a closely contested opening day of Formula V8 3.5 testing at Aragon. The two days of running represent the final pre-season test before next weekend's opening round of the season at the Spanish venue.

Arden racer Orudzhev's quickest lap of 1m40.675s was just 0.017 seconds faster than fellow series returnee Tom Dillmann.

The top 12 drivers on Saturday set their fastest times in the afternoon session. Morning pace-setter Matthieu Vaxiviere also came within a tenth of Orudzhev's best effort, finishing the day third fastest on a time of 1m40.728s.

Vaxiviere was partnered at SMP Racing by Koiranen GP3 driver Matevos Isaakyan, who filled the seat previously occupied by Vladimir Atoev. Isaakyan had been fastest in the final session of last month's Barcelona FV8 3.5 test for Teo Martin Motorsport.

Aurelien Panis, another leading runner from Barcelona's test in March, took fourth on Saturday. Beitske Visser claimed fifth ahead of Fortec's Formula Renault 2.0 NEC champion Louis Deletraz.

Visser has endured pre-season tribulations following the sudden withdrawal of Pons Racing. After testing for Strakka Racing last month, Visser switched to Teo Martin Motorsport this weekend.

Strakka was absent from the test, leaving just 15 cars present, but the team tweeted that it is "still pushing for 2016."

MORNING TIMES

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Matthieu Vaxiviere	SMP Racing	1m40.760ss	1m40.760s	36
2	Aurelien Panis	Arden Motorsport	1m40.813ss	0.053s	39
3	Tom Dillmann	AVF	1m40.975ss	0.215s	32
4	Egor Orudzhev	Arden Motorsport	1m41.000ss	0.240s	34
5	Beitske Visser	Teo Martin Motorsport	1m41.152ss	0.392s	33
6	Louis Deletraz	Fortec Motorsports	1m41.241ss	0.481s	42
7	Yu Kanamaru	Teo Martin Motorsport	1m41.334ss	0.574s	37
8	Pietro Fittipaldi	Fortec Motorsports	1m41.632ss	0.872s	46
9	Roy Nissany	Lotus	1m42.023ss	1.263s	35
10	Johnny Cecotto Jr.	Rp Motorsport	1m42.428ss	1.668s	32
11	Alfonso Celis	AVF	1m42.568ss	1.808s	29
12	Vitor Baptista	Rp Motorsport	1m42.572ss	1.812s	31
13	Matevos Isaakyan	SMP Racing	1m42.835ss	2.075s	18
14	Rene Binder	Lotus	1m44.181ss	3.421s	10
15	Giuseppe Cipriani	Durango Racing Team	1m47.769ss	7.009s	22

AFTERNOON TIMES

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Egor Orudzhev	Arden Motorsport	1m40.675ss	1m40.675s	34
2	Tom Dillmann	AVF	1m40.692ss	0.017s	27
3	Matthieu Vaxiviere	SMP Racing	1m40.728ss	0.053s	19
4	Aurelien Panis	Arden Motorsport	1m40.776ss	0.101s	27
5	Beitske Visser	Teo Martin Motorsport	1m40.853ss	0.178s	22
6	Louis Deletraz	Fortec Motorsports	1m40.942ss	0.267s	31
7	Yu Kanamaru	Teo Martin Motorsport	1m40.952ss	0.277s	26
8	Roy Nissany	Lotus	1m41.209ss	0.534s	19
9	Pietro Fittipaldi	Fortec Motorsports	1m41.257ss	0.582s	28
10	Johnny Cecotto Jr.	Rp Motorsport	1m41.492ss	0.817s	33
11	Alfonso Celis	AVF	1m41.554ss	0.879s	24
12	Rene Binder	Lotus	1m41.845ss	1.170s	19
13	Matevos Isaakyan	SMP Racing	1m43.438ss	2.763s	11
14	Giuseppe Cipriani	Durango Racing Team	-	-	3
15	Vitor Baptista	Rp Motorsport	-	-	5