Kanamaru's morning lap kept him at the top of the combined timesheets for the rest of the day, with Orudzhev coming up just 0.016s short in the afternoon.

The Japanese driver had taken over at the top of the timesheets in the dying minutes of the first session, deposing Eurocup champion Jack Aitken.

Aitken himself had dethroned Matthieu Vaxiviere shortly before, the Formula Renault 3.5 2015 frontrunner testing for newcomer squad Spirit of Race.

Strakka duo Jake Hughes and Gustav Malja completed the morning's top five, the former a teammate of Aitken's in Formula Renault 2.0.

Orudzhev, who ended the first half of the day in 10th, stormed to the top of the afternoon run with an hour remaining.

And despite numerous drivers improving later on, his time stood, while Hughes, Vaxiviere, Aitken and GP3 ace Marvin Kirchhofer made up the rest of the top five, despite the German stopping on track in the final hour.