GP2 Asia series champion Romain Grosjean continued with his strong form ahead of the start of the main series by topping the times on the opening day of preseason testing at Silverstone.
In cold, wet and windy conditions, the Frenchman finished with a time of 1m40.725s in the DAMS car, outpacing Arden's Josef Kral by over half a second. Grosjean set the best time in the afternoon, when conditions improved and allowed drivers to lap the circuit some 15 seconds quicker than in the morning.
Rapax driver Fabio Leimer was third quickest, with Sam Bird in the iSport machine and ART's Jules Bianchi rounding up the top five. Bianchi had been fastest in the morning session.
The afternoon session finished eight minutes ahead of schedule, when Fairuz Fauzy lost control of his car. The session was not restarted after that.
The test continues tomorrow.
Morning times
Driver Team Time Laps
1. Jules Bianchi Lotus ART 1:55.769 29
2. Jolyon Palmer Arden International 1:56.146 22
3. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus ART 1:56.236 21
4. Charles Pic Barwa Addax 1:56.244 29
5. Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax 1:56.496 22
6. Max Chilton Carlin 1:56.841 21
7. Luiz Razia Team AirAsia 1:57.027 25
8. Johnny Cecotto Ocean Racing Technology 1:57.270 21
9. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:57.296 25
10. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing 1:57.452 19
11. Oliver Turvey Carlin 1:57.472 11
12. Romain Grosjean Dams 1:57.576 24
13. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 1:57.788 29
14. Kevin Mirocha Ocean Racing Technology 1:57.850 27
15. Julian Leal Rapax 1:57.871 20
16. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:58.027 17
17. Sam Bird iSport International 1:58.289 19
18. Michael Herck Scuderia Coloni 1:58.293 40
19. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident Racing 1:58.319 14
20. Pal Varhaug Dams 1:58.439 30
21. Davide Valsecchi Team AirAsia 1:58.770 10
22. Josef Kral Arden International 1:58.048 21
23. Davide Rigon Scuderia Coloni 2:00.070 17
24. Fabio Leimer Rapax 2:00.228 26
25. Stefano Coletti Trident Racing 2:00.299 13
26. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing -- 2
Afternoon times
Driver Team Time Laps
1. Romain Grosjean Dams 1:40.725 17
2. Josef Kral Arden International 1:41.361 11
3. Fabio Leimer Rapax 1:41.480 14
4. Sam Bird iSport International 1:41.525 14
5. Jules Bianchi Lotus ART 1:41.555 15
6. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 1:41.639 15
7. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing 1:41.651 14
8. Julian Leal Rapax 1:41.781 15
9. Michael Herck Scuderia Coloni 1:41.819 20
10. Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax Team 1:41.900 13
11. Oliver Turvey Carlin 1:42.103 17
12. Johnny Cecotto Ocean Racing Technology 1:42.147 17
13. Stefano Coletti Trident Racing 1:42.231 18
14. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:42.360 18
15. Davide Rigon Scuderia Coloni 1:42.376 21
16. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:42.399 16
17. Davide Valsecchi Team AirAsia 1:42.488 9
18. Jolyon Palmer Arden International 1:42.508 12
19. Luiz Razia Team AirAsia 1:42.509 16
20. Charles Pic Barwa Addax Team 1:42.929 13
21. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus ART 1:43.125 14
22. Pal Varhaug Dams 1:43.450 17
23. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident Racing 1:43.479 18
24. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing 1:43.919 16
25. Kevin Mirocha Ocean Racing Technology 1:44.029 21
26. Max Chilton Carlin 1:55.587 3