Pastor Maldonado maintained his strong form in the preseason GP2 test at Paul Ricard by leading the way for a second consecutive day.
The series returnee, who signed for the Rapax team earlier this week, overcame long-time Wednesday pacesetter Dani Clos (Racing Engineering) in the closing stages of the second session. Maldonado's 1m09.769sec lap ended up being the benchmark by just under a tenth of a second, as Clos also made a late improvement but could not quite reclaim the top spot.
Josef Kral was third for Super Nova, but his teammate Marcus Ericsson had to sit out the afternoon having crashed in the pit exit.
iSport's Oliver Turvey took fourth, with his GP2 Asia champion teammate Davide Valsecchi three places farther back behind DAMS' Ho-Pin Tung and ART's Sam Bird.
Morning session:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1m10.288s 38
2. Pastor Maldonado Rapax 1m10.375s 36
3. Jules Bianchi ART 1m10.481s 34
4. Sam Bird ART 1m10.497s 54
5. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 1m10.532s 42
6. Charles Pic Arden 1m10.576s 40
7. Sergio Perez Addax 1m10.619s 50
8. Josef Kral Super Nova 1m10.651s 39
9. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1m10.746s 16
10. Luiz Razia Rapax 1m10.816s 28
11. Michael Herck DPR 1m10.838s 34
12. Giedo Van der Garde Addax 1m10.921s 42
13. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS 1m10.934s 44
14. Johnny Cecotto Trident 1m10.934s 33
15. Davide Valsecchi iSport 1m10.972s 48
16. Alberto Valerio Coloni 1m11.030s 31
17. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden 1m11.095s 39
18. Ho-Pin Tung DAMS 1m11.113s 49
19. Oliver Turvey iSport 1m11.266s 47
20. Max Chilton Ocean 1m11.304s 43
21. Adrian Zaugg Trident 1m11.318s 24
22. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova 1m11.343s 39
23. Fabio Leimer Ocean 1m11.355s 38
24. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Coloni 1m11.963s 19
Afternoon session:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Pastor Maldonado Rapax 1m09.769s 28
2. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1m09.876s 43
3. Josef Kral Super Nova 1m10.045s 37
4. Oliver Turvey iSport 1m10.082s 30
5. Ho-Pin Tung DAMS 1m10.160s 46
6. Sam Bird ART 1m10.164s 38
7. Davide Valsecchi iSport 1m10.185s 27
8. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS 1m10.256s 43
9. Jules Bianchi ART 1m10.264s 43
10. Luiz Razia Rapax 1m10.276s 31
11. Adrian Zaugg Trident 1m10.305s 52
12. Giedo Van der Garde Addax 1m10.326s 39
13. Alberto Valerio Coloni 1m10.414s 34
14. Johnny Cecotto Trident 1m10.423s 17
15. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Coloni 1m10.485s 51
16. Charles Pic Arden 1m10.500s 34
17. Sergio Perez Addax 1m10.579s 28
18. Michael Herck DPR 1m10.629s 41
19. Fabio Leimer Ocean 1m10.647s 29
20. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1m10.754s 15
21. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden 1m10.771s 47
22. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 1m11.089s 17