Di Grassi stays on top in Ricard test

Lucas di Grassi remained quickest on the final day of this week's GP2 test at Paul Ricard.

As the teams switched to the French track's short 2D layout for day three, Racing Engineering driver di Grassi's 1:09.536 lap from the morning session stood as the day's benchmark.

Vitaly Petrov (Campos) was second, 0.122 seconds behind the former Renault Formula 1 test driver.

Andreas Zuber completed the top three for Fisichella Motor Sport, following by ART's Pastor Maldonando and Wednesday pace-setter Javier Villa (Super Nova).

Alberto Valerio continued the improved form he has demonstrated since joining the Piquet team by taking sixth place, while Alvaro Parente showed promising pace for Tiago Montiago's Ocean Racing Technology squad, ending a tough week with seventh position today.

The second pre-season GP2 test takes place at Barcelona in a fortnight.

Friday's combined times:

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Lucas di Grassi Racing Engineering 1:09.536 2. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:09.658 3. Andreas Zuber Fisichella 1:09.663 4. Pastor Maldonado ART 1:09.691 5. Javier Villa Super Nova 1:09.875 6. Alberto Valerio Piquet 1:09.920 7. Alvaro Parente Ocean 1:09.941 8. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:09.968 9. Nico Hulkenberg ART 1:09.980 10. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:09.981 11. Michael Herck DPR 1:09.982 12. Luca Filippi Super Nova 1:10.054 13. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:10.054 14. Romain Grosjean Campos 1:10.080 15. Edoardo Mortara Arden 1:10.195 16. Sergio Perez Arden 1:10.204 17. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:10.235 18. Davide Rigon Trident 1:10.257 19. Karun Chandhok Ocean 1:10.274 20. Giedo van der Garde iSport 1:10.419 21. Diego Nunes iSport 1:10.553 22. Hamad Al Fardan Trident 1:10.612 23. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:10.732 24. Luiz Razia Fisichella 1:10.749 25. Nelson Panciatici Durango 1:10.861 26. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet 1:10.864

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Di Grassi leads the way at Paul Ricard

Lucas di Grassi moved to the top of times on the second day of GP2 testing at the Paul Ricard circuit.

The Brazilian, second quickest yesterday, shot to the head of the timesheets in the afternoon session, with a best lap of 1:08.841.

Di Grassi, who yesterday made his debut with the Racing Engineering team, finished less than a tenth ahead of rookie team-mate Dani Clos, who completed a promising day, having also shone in the morning.

Pastor Maldonado was third fastest for ART Grand Prix, with Roman Grosjean, who topped the times in the morning, having to settle for fourth place with Campos.

Yesterday's pace-setter Javier Villa was down in fifth today.

The layout used for today's session was the 2A, which includes a long straight the teams used to work on their high speed configurations and engine mapping.

The test continues tomorrow.

Morning times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Romain Grosjean Barwa Campos Team 1:09.015 34 2. Dani Clos Fat Burner Racing Engineering 1:09.047 43 3. Javier Villa Super Nova Racing 1:09.077 33 4. Pastor Maldonado ART Grand Prix 1:09.122 41 5. Michael Herck DPR 1:09.169 37 6. Lucas Di Grassi Fat Burner Racing Engineering 1:09.180 33 7. Alvaro Parente Ocean Racing Technology 1:09.215 35 8. Andreas Zuber Fisichella Motor Sport Int. 1:09.221 38 9. Jerome d'Ambrosio Dams 1:09.335 38 10. Nico Hulkenberg ART Grand Prix 1:09.335 41 11. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing 1:09.367 45 12. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet GP 1:09.417 38 13. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:09.422 36 14. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:09.524 36 15. Alberto Valerio Piquet GP 1:09.525 36 16. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Campos Team 1:09.567 19 17. Karun Chandhok Ocean Racing Technology 1:09.576 31 18. Diego Nunes iSport International 1:09.578 57 19. Giedo Van der Garde iSport International 1:09.653 33 20. Edoardo Mortara Telmex Arden International 1:09.769 25 21. Hamad Al Fardan Trident Racing 1:09.811 35 22. Luiz Razia Fisichella Motor Sport Int. 1:10.102 45 23. Davide Rigon Trident Racing 1:10.393 52 24. Sergio Perez Telmex Arden International 1:10.466 32

Afternoon times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Lucas Di Grassi Racing Engineering 1:08.841 39 2. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:08.961 44 3. Pastor Maldonado ART Grand Prix 1:08.985 33 4. Javier Villa Super Nova Racing 1:09.076 38 5. Vitaly Petrov Campos Team 1:09.100 30 6. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:09.220 46 7. Nico Hulkenberg ART Grand Prix 1:09.326 30 8. Jerome D Ambrosio Dams 1:09.383 30 9. Romain Grosjean Campos Team 1:09.424 38 10. Davide Rigon Trident Racing 1:09.429 41 11. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing 1:09.437 35 12. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet GP 1:09.469 31 13. Alberto Valerio Piquet GP 1:09.527 30 14. Karun Chandhok Ocean Racing Technology 1:09.564 25 15. Andreas Zuber FMS International 1:09.564 13 16. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:09.598 17 17. Hamad Al Fardan Trident Racing 1:09.604 45 18. Sergio Perez Arden International 1:09.649 42 19. Diego Nunes iSport International 1:09.815 37 20. Michael Herck DPR 1:09.831 33 21. Giedo Van der Garde iSport International 1:10.170 37 22. Nelson Panciatici Durango 1:10.231 28 23. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:10.604 24

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Villa sets record pace in Ricard test

Super Nova's Javier Villa set a new GP2 lap record at Paul Ricard on the opening day of the first pre-season test.

The Spaniard, who has switched to Super Nova after three years with Racing Engineering, was quickest in both the morning and afternoon sessions, with his time of 1:11.930 after lunch breaking Romain Grosjean's previous record by 0.101 seconds.

Returnee Lucas di Grassi was second quickest today, 0.149 seconds down on Villa's time in his debut run with Racing Engineering.

GP2 Asia points leader Kamui Kobayashi completed the top three for DAMS, ahead of Campos Racing's Romain Grosjean and ART's Pastor Maldonado.

The test was the first chance for the teams to try the GP2 Dallara-Renault's new engine, which offers an additional 25bhp and an improved power curve.

Series technical director Didier Perrin was satisfied with the new package's performance.

"We are very pleased with today's results," he said. "They confirm our predictions regarding the gain of performance we were expecting with the new engine. Moreover, we did not suffer from any serious reliability issues."

Day one combined testing times:

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Javier Villa Super Nova 1:11.930 2. Lucas di Grassi Racing Engineering 1:12.079 3. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:12.140 4. Romain Grosjean Campos 1:12.262 5. Pastor Maldonado ART 1:12.270 6. Andreas Zuber Fisichella 1:12.300 7. Alberto Valerio Piquet 1:12.439 8. Luca Filippi Super Nova 1:12.481 9. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:12.509 10. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:12.574 11. Edoardo Mortara Arden 1:12.607 12. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet 1:12.742 13. Diego Nunes iSport 1:12.774 14. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:12.893 15. Nico Hulkenberg ART 1:13.010 16. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:13.138 17. Sergio Perez Arden 1:13.182 18. Giedo van der Garde iSport 1:13.221 19. Karun Chandhok Ocean 1:13.356 20 Davide Rigon Trident 1:13.362 21. Hamad Al Fardan Trident 1:13.477 22. Luiz Razia Fisichella 1:13.584 23. Michael Herck DPR 1:13.788 24. Nelson Panciatici Durango 1:13.860 25. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:14.961 26. Alvaro Parente Ocean

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Di Grassi leads the way at Paul Ricard

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Perez aims for GP2 title with Arden

Sergio Perez believes he can challenge for the GP2 title after finalising to move to Arden for the main series.

The British Formula 3 graduate has taken two wins and a second place with Campos in the last three GP2 Asia rounds, and reckons he can show similar form in the full championship.

"Driving for a team such as Arden represents a great opportunity for me and I am really looking forward to it," said Perez.

"Together, I believe we have great potential to mount a serious title challenge - and that has to be our goal. It is going to be an extremely tough, competitive season and I aim to make the most of the chance I have been given at an important stage of my career.

"It is fantastic for Mexico to have a driver so close to F1, but I know I need to do a very good job to make it all the way to the top. I will give 100 per cent in and out of the car to help the team and fight for the championship."

Former Formula 3000 champions Arden have won races in every GP2 season, but haven't mounted a title challenge since their driver Heikki Kovalainen was narrowly beaten to the inaugural GP2 crown by Nico Rosberg in 2005.

Arden have also confirmed that their GP2 Asia Edoardo Mortara will stay on for the rest of the season, as predicted by autosport.com earlier this year.

"This is a very professional team that knows how to win races," said Mortara. "I'm already competing with them in the GP2 Asia Series and we're working really well together, so stepping up to the main championship should be straightforward."

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Filippi returns to Super Nova

The Super Nova team have confirmed Luca Filippi will partner Adrian Villa during the GP2 main series this year.

Italian Filippi, who raced for ART Grand Prix in 2008, will thus return to the team for whom he drove for in GP2 back in 2007, when he finished in fourth place in the standings.

"I am really pleased to be back at Super Nova because this is what I really wanted since the last test at Paul Ricard and since then we have been working really hard to finalize a deal," said the 23-year-old at Paul Ricard, where he will be testing tomorrow.

"And now we have I only want to better the 2007 year we had together, I can see the potential of the team and how hard they are all working to make 2009 great year and I couldn't wish for a better place to be this year."

Filippi will be driving alongside Spaniard Villa, who was confirmed at the team earlier his month.

Team boss David Sears added: "We are extremely pleased to announce both our drivers for the GP2 2009 season. It's fantastic that Javier Villa got to know the team in the Asia Series and is coming with us into the Main Series.

"We welcome Luca Filippi back, as he has had more success with our GP2 team than any other, when he was with us two years ago!"

‘Frank TV,’ take two

Super Nova retain Villa for main series

Parente completes ORT line-up

Alvaro Parente will race for the Ocean Racing Technology team in this year's GP2 championship, it was announced on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old Portuguese made his GP2 debut with Super Nova last year and went on to finish in eighth place after one win and four podium finishes.

He will join Ocean Racing Technology, also from Portugal, for the main series this year.

"I'm very pleased to be with Ocean Racing Technology, because I believe in the team's potentialities and I was very well welcomed by everybody," said Parente.

"I feel confident that this team will allow me to give another step in my career. Besides, this is a project with a Portuguese flavour, which is something that makes it special and pleases me."

He added: "My goal for the 2009 season is to fight for the top places in every race. After what was, in my opinion, a positive debut season, I feel more prepared and I'm certain that Ocean Racing Team will give me all the condition to achieve my aims."

Parente, who will partner Indian Karun Chandhok at the team, will have his first test with ORT tomorrow in testing at Paul Ricard.

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Valerio moves to Piquet GP2 squad

Alberto Valerio has signed with the Piquet team for his second season in the GP2 Series.

The 23-year-old Brazilian was a midfield runner with Durango last year, taking a best result of seventh in Turkey. He had previously contested GP2 Asia with the team, and made a brief appearance for Trident in the current Asian series before picking Piquet for his main championship campaign.

"I think Piquet GP is an extremely competitive team and I'm sure that together with the technical staff I will improve race after race," said Valerio.

Piquet team boss Felipe Vargas hopes they can help Valerio regain the form that took him to the 2005 South American Formula 3 title.

"Alberto has shown great potential in other categories and when he tested with us at the end of last year," Vargas said. "I think we can be competitive together and hopefully bring good results for all of us."

Valerio will partner Roldan Rodriguez, who has returned to Piquet after a season with the Fisichella team.

The Piquet squad fought for the 2006 title with Nelson Piquet, but Pastor Maldonado's Spa victory last year is their only race win since then.

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