West Australian Toro Rosso reserve driver and test pilot Daniel Ricciardo will miss the opening round of the Formula Renault 3.5 championship in Spain to take part in Friday testing.
Ricciardo competed in the Friday test session at Albert Park in Australia, and will again fill Friday Formula One test duties in the Asian rounds.
“I’ll be in the F1]car again for first practice in Malaysia in a couple of weeks, and then Shanghai again a few weeks later,” Daniel Ricciardo told UK motorsport magazine Autosport.
Sacrificing a round in the series means Ricciardo will be fighting an uphill battle to claim the competitive European title for which he was a runner up in 2010.
“Unfortunately that means that I’m going to miss the first Formula Renault 3.5 race in Spain,” Ricciardo said.
“It’s great to get more F1 time, and I’m hugely grateful for the opportunity, but it just means I’m going to have to work a bit harder to win the FR3.5 title this year!”
The team’s decision to run Ricciardo in the cars on Friday adds pressure to Jaime Alguesuari and Sebastien Buemi after the two full-time drivers were upstaged by the 21 year old in pre-season tests.
by Buford Balony
