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

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