Buemi leads Arden one-two in sprint

Sebastien Buemi defeated Arden teammate Yelmer Buurman in a topsy-turvy GP2 Series sprint race at Magny-Cours on Sunday morning, with their gamble of starting on slick tyres paying dividends as the damp track dried out.

The majority of the grid started on wet rubber, so Mike Conway led from pole with Jerome d'Ambrosio jumping ahead of Karun Chandhok to take second. Chandhok lost further places to Campos duo Vitaly Petrov and Lucas di Grassi at the hairpin, and then spun at the 180-degree bend.

D'Ambrosio went off at Estoril at the start of lap two, and would later clash with Chandhok, putting him out.

By lap four, those on slick tyres were lapping quicker than those at the front, which sparked a flurry of pitstops for the wet-runners. Petrov braved it out on wets at the front, but even he pitted for slicks on lap nine - just when it started to rain again...

The shower was brief, so those who had started on slicks were in the box seat. Buurman took up the lead, chased by Super Nova's Alvaro Parente and Buemi. Bruno Senna was next up, despite a spin at 180.

Buemi took second when Parente slid wide at Lycee, and then chased down Buurman, who held a six second lead at one point. Four laps later, they were nose-to-tail, and after Buurman slid wide at Estoril, the Arden cars raced side-by-side into the Adelaide hairpin, where Buemi hit the front.

He pulled away to a 6.6-second win ahead of Buurman. Luca Filippi came out of the pack to snatch third, as Parente dropped out with a mechanical failure, while Senna limped home fifth, losing a spot in the closing stages to di Grassi as his gearbox selector barrel began to malfunction. Conway scored the final point in sixth.

Points leader Giorgio Pantano retired after a clash with Petrov damaged his car. He now leads the standings by seven points.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Sebastien Buemi Trust Team Arden 43:08.504 2. Yelmer Buurman Trust Team Arden + 6.639 3. Luca Filippi ART Grand Prix + 23.953 4. Lucas Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team + 24.479 5. Bruno Senna iSport International + 29.439 6. Mike Conway Trident Racing + 35.924 7. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports + 38.074 8. Andreas Zuber Piquet Sports + 43.060 9. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS + 45.558 10. Javier Villa Racing Engineering + 46.756 11. Marko Asmer FMS International + 52.901 12. Adrian Valles BCN Competicion + 1 lap 13. Carlos Iaconelli BCN Competicion + 1 lap 14. Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing + 2 laps 15. Michael Herck DPR + 2 laps 16. Roldan Rodriguez FMS International + 2 laps 17. Alberto Valério Durango + 2 laps 18. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Campos Team + 3 laps Retirements:Driver Team Laps Alvaro Parente Super Nova Racing 24 Benjamin Hanley Durango 24 Diego Nunes DPR 21 Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering 14 Karun Chandhok iSport International 13 Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix 6 Andy Soucek Super Nova Racing 2 Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS 2

Grosjean wins bizarre sprint race

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Pantano tops Istanbul free practice

Beckham leads All-Star fan voting

Hanley grabs last-gasp Durango drive

Renault Development Driver Ben Hanley has been thrown a GP2 Series lifeline by Durango this weekend at Magny-Cours, after the Briton parted company with the Barwa Campos Team after three rounds.

Hanley, runner-up to Alvaro Parente in last year's Renault World Series, split with former Minardi driver Adrian Campos's team "by mutual decision" after Monaco.

He will replace Davide Valsecchi at Durango, who is yet to recover fully from the spinal compression he suffered in a 170mph accident during qualifying at Istanbul.

Hanley said: "I got the call [from Durango] on Wednesday evening at 8.30, so here I am. Whether I will complete the championship, I don't know, we're taking it on a race-by-race basis.

"I've had a bit of bad luck this year, with an engine failure at Barcelona, a 10-place grid penalty in Turkey and a bad Monaco weekend.

"Durango is a completely different atmosphere to Campos, so I'm just going to take each race as it comes and hopefully get some good results."

Fresh faces in new places this weekend also include Carlos Iaconelli at BCN, Andy Soucek at Super Nova, Michael Herck at DPR, Marco Asmer at FMS and Lucas di Grassi replacing Hanley at Campos.

Senna grabs France pole, then crashes

Di Grassi in GP2 return with Campos

RSL left wanting more after draw

Pantano grabs pole, Valsecchi shunts

Wheldon steps out of car, onto field

Senna, Grosjean rue tech failures

GP2 front-runners Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean were left licking their wounds after losing potentially winning positions in the feature race at Magny-Cours on Saturday.

Senna led for 20 laps until his slipping clutch cost him the top spot, and he was forced out for good a couple of laps later. Grosjean then led for the next 13 laps before his hydraulics failed, handing victory to new championship leader Giorgio Pantano.

"The clutch began to slip seven to eight laps before my pitstop," said Senna. "I tried to go easy on it, and not push too hard, but then Grosjean came past me on the straight while the engine was going 'woaaaah', and that was it."

Grosjean, who stood to profit most from Senna's problem, then hit a technical issue of his own, forcing him out.

"My hydraulic alarm was flashing since the third lap," said Grosjean. "I got into the lead with a good move on Senna, but then I had trouble clearing [Mike] Conway, so Pantano caught me. I pushed again, and got the gap to him stable, but then the hydraulics failed completely. I had no clutch, no gearbox, no everything!

"It's a shame, in front of all these French people too. It went from a really good day to a really bad one very quickly."

Hoops hoping to reignite attack

Pantano wins to retake series lead

Defensive emphasis paying off for FCD

Dube, Revs steal share of MLS lead

Pantano wins to retake series lead

Giorgio Pantano retook the lead of the GP2 Series at Magny-Cours in France by winning the feature race after his two rivals, Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean, dropped out with mechanical failures.

Pantano now leads the championship by nine points, but was only on course to finish third when first Senna, then Grosjean, hit trouble just ahead of him. Senna led from the start but began to experience a slipping clutch from lap 10.

Following his pitstop on lap 18, he emerged well clear of Pantano, but Grosjean got between them, having pitted three laps earlier. Grosjean had lost his front row position at the start, when Pantano scraped past him into Turn 1.

Grosjean hit the front at Adelaide hairpin on lap 20, as Senna's clutch problem intensified, forcing the Brazilian out soon after.

Pantano was very quick after his pitstop, and got the extra point for the race's fastest lap, and zoomed right onto Grosjean's tail. He got within 0.3 seconds on lap 27, but then dropped back as the best of his tyres went away.

He needn't have worried: Grosjean too suddenly slowed with a hydraulic problem, and coasted to the pits, gifting him a nine-second lead over returnee Lucas di Grassi.

Pastor Maldonado completed the podium, after a lightning start elevated him from seventh on the grid to fifth on the opening lap.

Vitaly Petrov just held off Maldonado's teammate Andi Zuber for fourth, with Jerome d'Ambrosio taking full advantage of an early pitstop to jump up to an eventual sixth.

Karun Chandhok and Mike Conway will fill the reverse grid front row tomorrow, having finished seventh and eighth.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Pantano Racing Engineering 59:17.927 2. Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team + 8.607 3. Maldonado Piquet Sports + 12.436 4. Petrov Barwa Campos Team + 17.081 5. Zuber Piquet Sports + 17.485 6. D'ambrosio Dams + 18.482 7. Chandhok iSport International + 20.330 8. Conway Trident Racing + 23.024 9. Parente Super Nova Racing + 28.848 10. Filippi ART Grand Prix + 41.255 11. Nunes DPR + 54.160 12. Buurman Trust Team Arden + 57.581 13. Soucek Super Nova Racing + 57.817 14. Villa Racing Engineering + 58.529 15. Valles BCN Competicion + 61.455 16. Iaconelli BCN Competicion + 80.438 17. Asmer FMS International + 81.042 18. Valerio Durango + 2 laps Retirements: Driver Team Laps Grosjean ART Grand Prix 34 Rodriguez FMS International 33 Buemi Trust Team Arden 28 Hanley Durango 24 Senna iSport International 22 Herck DPR 16 Tung Trident Racing 14 Kobayashi Dams 0 Fastest lap: Pantano, 1:25.352, on lap 24

Senna, Grosjean rue tech failures

Pantano keeps cool to win in Turkey

Cochrane recovering from grisly collision

Pantano tops Istanbul free practice

FMS, Super Nova in pitlane brawl

GP2 Series teams FMS International and Super Nova were both reprimanded by FIA stewards over a pitlane incident in qualifying on Friday, which also resulted in FMS being given a 10,000 euro fine.

FMS were found in 'serious breach' of GP2 sporting regulations as one of their staff blocked the path of cars in the pitlane just as the session was restarting.

After being asked to move by two other engineers, he was physically shoved out of the way by Super Nova's chief mechanic Loic Sorridente, as both of their cars were overheating.

This prompted a brawl, which involved jostling and shouting. Team bosses Paolo Coloni (FMS) and David Sears (Super Nova) were then involved in a slanging match, which led to them being marched to an FIA stewards inquiry.

CCTV captured the whole incident, of which Sears said: "It showed no fighting, just a bit of jostling and lots of arguing involving bad words. I told Paolo in no uncertain terms to f*** off and allow us to get on with qualifying before we had two blown engines on our hands, which I would have given him the bill for."

Coloni accepted the fine for the actions of his crew member, whom he admitted was in the wrong, but added: "what I find totally unacceptable is what happened afterwards. It was shocking to see what happened. There were four guys attacking my guy, and he has gone to the Police about it.

"Even worse is the reaction of David Sears, who shouted 'f*** you!' at me and it was shown live on Italian TV. That was very sad to see."

Galaxy confident even without stars

Mixed fortunes for Super Nova duo

Senna grabs France pole, then crashes

Bruno Senna took an amazing pole position for Saturday's GP2 Series feature race by setting the fastest time and then crashing just split-seconds later - bringing back memories of his uncle Ayrton 17 years ago.

Senna beat home hero Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) to pole position by just 0.037s, but in doing so booted his car out of the final chicane.

His iSport machine got into a tank-slapper, and although he saved the car from hitting the wall head-on, he removed the right-rear corner, and rear wing, against the tyre wall that juts out on the right-side of the track.

Senna had spun at the same place in free practice this morning, and evidently worked out that the fastest way to finish the lap was by nailing the throttle after jumping the kerbs - just like his uncle Ayrton did in qualifying here in 1991, spinning across the finish line.

Senna has now left his iSport crew with a rebuilding job overnight.

It was immensely close at the top, with just 0.051s covering the top three. Giorgio Pantano was also well in with a shout of pole, but locked up at Chateau d'Eau on what was to prove his quickest lap.

Fourth went to Piquet Sports' Andi Zuber, who was repeatedly baulked by traffic, while Sebastien Buemi bounced back from a troubled free practice to land a top five starting spot for Arden.

Lucas di Grassi was sixth on his GP2 return for Campos, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS) and Vitaly Petrov (Campos). Pastor Maldonado was a lowly ninth for Piquet Sports, while also off-form was Karun Chandhok (iSport) in 10th, just ahead of recent test pace-setter Luca Filippi (ART).

Ben Hanley was 16th in his first session with Durango, while Marko Asmer won the battle of the newcomers and will start 23rd for FMS. Carlos Iaconelli (BCN) and Michael Herck (DPR) round out the grid.

Those who will have expected more are Barcelona winner Alvaro Parente, who starts down in 21st, and Javier Villa, who was third fastest for Racing Engineering this morning before he crashed. He starts 24th.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Senna iSport International 1:22.250 13 2. Grosjean ART Grand Prix 1:22.287 + 0.037 16 3. Pantano Racing Engineering 1:22.301 + 0.051 18 4. Zuber Piquet Sports 1:22.380 + 0.130 15 5. Buemi Trust Team Arden 1:22.619 + 0.369 15 6. Di Grassi Barwa Campos Team 1:22.708 + 0.458 16 7. Kobayashi Dams 1:22.726 + 0.476 15 8. Petrov Barwa Campos Team 1:22.774 + 0.524 16 9. Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:22.780 + 0.530 14 10. Chandhok iSport International 1:22.821 + 0.571 16 11. Filippi ART Grand Prix 1:22.956 + 0.706 17 12. Soucek Super Nova Racing 1:23.035 + 0.785 16 13. D'ambrosio Dams 1:23.094 + 0.844 15 14. Conway Trident Racing 1:23.154 + 0.904 16 15. Nunes DPR 1:23.158 + 0.908 15 16. Hanley Durango 1:23.191 + 0.941 16 17. Tung Trident Racing 1:23.331 + 1.081 16 18. Valles BCN Competicion 1:23.372 + 1.122 16 19. Buurman Trust Team Arden 1:23.441 + 1.191 16 20. Rodriguez FMS International 1:23.467 + 1.217 18 21. Parente Super Nova Racing 1:23.787 + 1.537 16 22. Valerio Durango 1:23.853 + 1.603 17 23. Asmer FMS International 1:23.870 + 1.620 16 24. Villa Racing Engineering 1:23.998 + 1.748 15 25. Iaconelli BCN Competicion 1:24.784 + 2.534 15 26. Herck DPR 1:25.668 + 3.418 11

Fire sign Paraguayan defender Marmol

Pantano tops Istanbul free practice

Maldonado grabs pole in Barcelona

Pantano grabs pole, Valsecchi shunts

Galaxy confident even without stars

Beckham leads All-Star fan voting

Senna: Crash not intentional

Bruno Senna has clarified his bizarre method of scoring his first-ever GP2 Series pole position by stating that he didn't intentionally throw his car across the start/finish line out of control.

Senna pipped local hero Romain Grosjean by 0.037s with his fastest lap, which ended with him on three wheels after he removed his right-rear against the barrier after losing control.

He actually clipped the barrier with his nosecone as he tank-slapped wildly, dragging the rear of the car into the barrier.

"That wasn't how I intended to finish my lap," he said. "I was on a good one, but had a wild entry to the chicane. I hit the kerb on the left too much, and thought I could get away with a slide, but I lost the car on the kerb on the exit.

"I completely lifted, but got sideways and ended up in the wall."

He addeed: "I honestly prefer to complete my laps in the classic way, with four wheels attached. I'm certain it would have been quicker to complete the lap in the proper way too. But it's quite easy to go off here."

One handicap is that Senna can no longer use the right-rear tyre, as it was damaged in the crash, so he will have to start with a mis-matched set across the rear of the car.

It has yet to be discovered if the gearbox was damaged in the crash, but the entire right-rear corner and rear wing need replacing overnight.

Senna said: "It's superficial damage, so I'll pay the guys back with beer when they fix it."

Shorthanded Quakes stay positive

Senna proud of Monaco victory

Senna name wins again at Monaco

Grosjean leads first practice at home

Local hero Romain Grosjean set an impressive pace in GP2 Series free practice at Magny-Cours on Friday afternoon, outpacing the field by over one and half tenths of a second.

Grosjean (ART) was relatively slow early on, some way off early pacesetter Andi Zuber (Piquet Sports), but turned it on after a pitstop and lapped the French GP venue in 1:22.676. Zuber stayed second best on a 1:22.834, which was 0.158s slower.

Javier Villa headed a Racing Engineering 3-4, but ended his session in the wall at Estoril, the fast right-hander catching out a number of drivers.

Mike Conway and Pastor Maldonado were fortunate to escape high-speed gravely offs there, while Grosjean had a big moment of his own, but Villa impacted the tyrewall without injury.

Giorgio Pantano was fourth fastest, the only other member of the 1:22 club, with the rest headed by Maldonado on 1:23.092. The Venezuelan, who took pole last time out, had three offs during the session - and produced the save of the season to avoid the Estoril tyrewall by booting it sideways on full opposite lock.

Vitaly Petrov was sixth fastest for Campos, ahead of Roldan Rodriguez (FMS), GP2 returnee Lucas di Grassi (Campos), Super Nova returnee Andy Soucek (who spun off into the gravel at the Imola chicane) and Bruno Senna (iSport), who spun across the finish line on one of his flying laps.

On his first outing for Durango, Ben Hanley was 21st, while newcomers Marko Asmer (24th), Michael Herck (25th) and Carlos Iaconelli (26th) rounded out the runners.

Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Romain Grosjean ART 1:22.676 2. Andi Zuber Piquet Sports 1:22.834 +0.158 3. Javier Villa Racing Engineering 1:22.874 +0.198 4. Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering 1:22.892 +0.216 5. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:23.092 +0.416 6. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:23.171 +0.495 7. Roldan Rodriguez FMS 1:23.173 +0.497 8. Lucas di Grassi Campos 1:23.213 +0.537 9. Andy Soucek Super Nova 1:23.238 +0.562 10. Bruno Senna iSport 1:23.274 +0.598 11. Alvaro Parente Super Nova 1:23.293 +0.617 12. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:23.337 +0.661 13. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:23.346 +0.670 14. Luca Filippi ART 1:23.353 +0.677 15. Sebastien Buemi Arden 1:23.353 +0.677 16. Karun Chandhok iSport 1:23.392 +0.716 17. Mike Conway Trident 1:23.474 +0.798 18. Diego Nunes DPR 1:23.915 +1.239 19. Yelmer Buurman Arden 1:23.997 +1.321 20. Ho-Pin Tung Trident 1:24.073 +1.397 21. Ben Hanley Durango 1:24.340 +1.664 22. Adrian Valles BCN 1:24.392 +1.716 23. Alberto Valerio Durango 1:24.506 +1.830 24. Marko Asmer FMS 1:24.918 +2.242 25. Michael Herck DPR 1:25.757 +3.081 26. Carlos Iaconelli BCN 1:27.898 +5.222

Pantano tops Istanbul free practice

Beckham leads All-Star fan voting

Pantano keeps cool to win in Turkey

Soucek secures Super Nova drive

GP2 racer Andy Soucek is set to rejoin Super Nova for the remainder of the season.

The Spaniard, who turned 23 on Saturday, drove for the team at Istanbul when regular driver Christian Bakkerud was sidelined with a back injury, but has now been drafted in to partner Alvaro Parente for the rest of the year.

Soucek hopes the move will mean the end of his seat swapping this season after he was dropped by FMS before the first race, and also made a one-off outing for DPR last time out at Monaco.

"It has been the best birthday present that they would give me," he told Spanish newspaper AS.

"The season took the wrong turn because of what happened with the FMS team, but thanks to that now I'm in one of the best teams. I want to thanks my sponsors, who have stuck with me despite the problems."

Soucek finished on the GP2 podium twice last season and scored his first point this year in race two at Monaco for DPR.

Soucek replaces injured Bakkerud

FCD’s ‘Bird Man’ starts to take flight

Brazilian Iaconelli joins BCN

Brazilian Carlos Iaconelli will join the BCN Competicion team from this weekend's race at the Magny-Cours circuit.

The 19-year-old will be making his GP2 debut in the French race, having competed in the International Formula Master this season and in the World Series by Renault for the past three years.

The team tested with just one car for Andy Soucek at Paul Ricard last week, but the Spaniard secured a drive for the rest of the season with Super Nova.

BCN also ran one car, for Adrian Valles, in the last race in Monaco, and it is unclear if the Spaniard will be in action at Magny-Cours.

Asmer to race in GP2 with FMS

Villa fastest in Paul Ricard test

Fire expect Revs to target revenge

First XI: Reflections across the pond

Filippi sets the pace at Paul Ricard

Luca Filippi finished on top of the times on the second day of testing at the Paul Ricard circuit, where all GP2 teams completed their final test before the end of the season.

ART driver Filippi set his best time - 1:09.934 - in the morning session.

The Italian was the only driver who lapped the French track in less than 70 secconds.

All teams spent their day working on preparation for the races at Spa and Monza, the events that will close the season in September.

Filippi was closely followed by teammate Romain Grosjean in the morning, but it was Bruno Senna who was second quickest overall with his 1:10.054 lap, set in the afternoon.

The morning session was troubled for the iSport team, with Karun Chandhok crashing into Sebastian Buemi and Senna having to stop early due to an engine problem.

Estonian Marko Asmer completed his second day of work with the Fisichella Motor Sports team after being confirmed to the reamining part of the season.

The BMW Sauber tester, however, was slowest in the morning and 20th fastest in the afternoon.

Super Nova's Christian Bakkerud was unable to take part in the test at all after suffering from back pains again.

Morning times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Luca Filippi ART Grand Prix 1:09.934 37 2. Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix 1:10.060 44 3. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Int. Campos Team 1:10.146 50 4. Lucas Di Grassi Barwa Int. Campos Team 1:10.210 47 5. Andreas Zuber Piquet Sports 1:10.265 41 6. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:10.271 46 7. Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering 1:10.310 45 8. Roldan Rodriguez Fisichella Motor Sport Int. 1:10.375 38 9. Javier Villa Racing Engineering 1:10.379 51 10. Andy Soucek BCN Competicion 1:10.445 45 11. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:10.471 44 12. Karun Chandhok iSport International 1:10.519 19 13. Alvaro Parente Super Nova Racing 1:10.524 41 14. Yelmer Buurman Trust Team Arden 1:10.533 50 15. Diego Nunes DPR 1:10.588 47 16. Jerome D Ambrosio Dams 1:10.593 43 17. Sebastien Buemi Trust Team Arden 1:10.625 31 18. Michael Herck DPR 1:10.842 40 19. Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing 1:10.975 49 20. Mike Conway Trident Racing 1:10.999 58 21. Alberto Valerio Durango 1:11.017 52 22. Bruno Senna iSport International 1:11.111 19 23. Marko Asmer Fisichella Motor Sport Int. 1:11.345 54

Afternoon times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Bruno Senna iSport International 1:10.054 47 2. Luca Filippi ART Grand Prix 1:10.272 42 3. Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering 1:10.364 34 4. Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix 1:10.523 35 5. Andreas Zuber Piquet Sports 1:10.563 47 6. Jerome d'Ambrosio Dams 1:10.591 47 7. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:10.602 46 8. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Int. Campos Team 1:10.730 31 9. Andy Soucek BCN Competicion 1:10.794 38 10. Sebastien Buemi Trust Team Arden 1:10.816 23 11. Yelmer Buurman Trust Team Arden 1:10.819 49 12. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:10.824 35 13. Diego Nunes DPR 1:10.888 39 14. Alvaro Parente Super Nova Racing 1:10.889 42 15. Roldan Rodriguez Fisichella Motor Sport Int. 1:10.948 49 16. Mike Conway Trident Racing 1:11.031 43 17. Karun Chandhok iSport International 1:11.045 19 18. Javier Villa Racing Engineering 1:11.053 31 19. Michael Herck DPR 1:11.160 26 20. Marko Asmer Fisichella Motor Sport Int. 1:11.342 38 21. Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing 1:11.538 32 22. Alberto Valerio Durango 1:11.743 30 23. Lucas Di Grassi Barwa Int. Campos Team 1:12.066 57

Maldonado on top at Monaco

Pantano tops Istanbul free practice

Villa fastest in Paul Ricard test

Galaxy confident even without stars

Wheldon steps out of car, onto field

Villa fastest in Paul Ricard test

Racing Engineering's Javier Villa finished on top of the times on the opening of two days of testing at the Paul Ricard circuit.

The Spaniard posted a best time of 1:13.037 to outpace teammate and championship leader Giorgio Pantano, second quickest overall.

Both men set their best times in the afternoon session.

Third fastest on the day was Piquet Sport's Pastor Maldonado, who topped the times in the morning.

On a trouble-free day, some teams tested new engine-gearbox strategy upgrades, and the series bosses declared themselves pleased with the results.

On the driver side, Estonian Marko Asmer joined the Fisichella Motor Sport International team in the afternoon session.

The BMW Sauber tester ended the day at the bottom of the times.

Renault's test driver Luca di Grassi returned to GP2 action following the annoucement that he will race with the Campo team.

Di Grassi had set the quickest time, but it was disallowed when it was found he had jumped a chicane.

Morning times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:13.291 26 2. Bruno Senna iSport International 1:13.301 30 3. Andreas Zuber Piquet Sports 1:13.366 28 4. Javier Villa Racing Engineering 1:13.647 18 5. Karun Chandhok iSport International 1:13.665 24 6. Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering 1:13.779 34 7. Vitaly Petrov Campos Team 1:13.902 31 8. Jerome d'Ambrosio Dams 1:13.920 22 9. Luca Filippi ART Grand Prix 1:13.959 38 10. Andy Soucek BCN Competicion 1:13.961 24 11. Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix 1:13.973 19 12. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:14.069 24 13. Alvaro Parente Super Nova Racing 1:14.115 31 14. Lucas Di Grassi Campos Team 1:14.280 21 15. Mike Conway Trident Racing 1:14.327 28 16. Yelmer Buurman Trust Team Arden 1:14.496 22 17. Sebastien Buemi Trust Team Arden 1:14.508 28 18. Diego Nunes DPR 1:14.643 15 19. Christian Bakkerud Super Nova Racing 1:14.671 26 20. Roldan Rodriguez FMS International 1:14.875 31 21. Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing 1:14.888 18 22. Alberto Valerio Durango 1:15.148 23 23. Michael Herck DPR 1:15.425 38

Afternoon times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Javier Villa Racing Engineering 1:13.037 25 2. Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering 1:13.235 34 3. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:13.390 34 4. Luca Filippi ART Grand Prix 1:13.410 30 5. Karun Chandhok iSport International 1:13.436 30 6. Bruno Senna iSport International 1:13.465 45 7. Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix 1:13.628 43 8. Andreas Zuber Piquet Sports 1:13.794 27 9. Jerome D'Ambrosio Dams 1:13.862 24 10. Lucas Di Grassi Campos Team 1:13.917 30 11. Alvaro Parente Super Nova Racing 1:14.017 39 12. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:14.028 34 13. Vitaly Petrov Campos Team 1:14.075 25 14. Diego Nunes DPR 1:14.110 18 15. Alberto Valerio Durango 1:14.173 33 16. Andy Soucek BCN Competicion 1:14.192 38 17. Sebastien Buemi Trust Team Arden 1:14.283 37 18. Mike Conway Trident Racing 1:14.295 41 19. Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing 1:14.383 47 20. Yelmer Buurman Trust Team Arden 1:14.512 39 21. Roldan Rodriguez FMS International 1:15.161 18 22. Michael Herck DPR 1:15.373 29 23. Christian Bakkerud Super Nova Racing 1:15.423 10 24. Marko Asmer FMS International 1:15.951 15

First XI: Reflections across the pond

Pantano tops Istanbul free practice

Asmer to race in GP2 with FMS

BMW Sauber's test driver Marko Asmer will race in the GP2 Series in the remaining part of the season after signing a deal with the FMS International team, autosport.com can reveal.

The Estonian driver, who won the British Formula 3 championship last season, will make his racing debut in GP2 in next week's race at Magny-Cours.

Asmer will replace Briton Adam Carroll in the Italian squad, the Briton's deal with the team expiring after the race in Monaco.

Twenty-three year-old Asmer, who has not raced since last yer, will be partnering Spaniard Roldan Rodriguez at the team.

Asmer joined FMS for his first outing in this afternoon's test at Paul Ricard.

First XI: Reflections across the pond

Villa fastest in Paul Ricard test

Di Grassi in GP2 return with Campos

Valles replaces Nocera at BCN

Di Grassi in GP2 return with Campos

Renault Formula One test driver Lucas Di Grassi will return to the GP2 championship for the rest of the season with Campos Racing.

The Brazilian, who finished runner-up to Timo Glock in GP2 last year, will replace his fellow Renault Driver Development recruit Ben Hanley.

Di Grassi will partner Vitaly Petrov at the Spanish team and is looking forward to racing regularly again.

"For me it's the ideal opportunity to drive regularly, and GP2 Series is the closest category to F1," he said.

"I'm sure I'll be able to manage my duties as the third driver for Renault and the expectations that Campos have placed on me for the rest of the championship."

Di Grassi will begin testing for Campos at Paul Ricard tomorrow.

Hanley, who was only three rounds into his rookie GP2 season, has been retained by Renault and is hoping to find another seat in the series.

"Things hadn't been going quite as well as we'd hoped, but I'd had some misfortune along the way," Hanley told autosport.com.

"We're trying to arrange something else as soon as possible, I'd definitely like to stay in GP2."

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