Andi Zuber (right) blasted his Minardi Piquet Sports car to the top timesheets of both the morning and afternoon sessions at Circuit Paul Ricard today, setting a best lap of 1:12.741, a new track record, on the "3D" track formation which will be used for the whole of this four-day testing marathon.

This test will be the last time that the current GP2 Series car will be driven in anger in Europe, before they are flown out to Dubai for the new GP2 Asia Series, which begins in January 2008. With the new GP2/08 set to be run by the teams for the first time in early 2008, this test will not only form the basis of their GP2 Asia Series driver line-up, but could also go a long way to determining who drives where in the main series next year. The teams are well aware of the advantages of confirming their line-ups in time for the first test of the GP2/08, as the element of stability in gaining an understanding of the new car could prove vital.

With this in mind, there is a lot to play for and these four days could yet come to act as one of the single most important test sessions in the three years of the GP2 Series.

Times were tight, as always, and with so many drivers wanting to make an impression some teams were forced to "car-share", giving each of their drivers just half a day.

Luca Filippi took the second fastest time overall as he made his second outing for DPR, again impressing for the British squad. Third fastest for the day was Pastor Maldonado as the venezuelan made his comeback from a broken collar bone for 2007 team champions iSport International.

Best rookies in the morning and afternoon sessions were both RDD drivers as Ben Hanley took fourth in the morning before handing over his FMS car to Kasper Andersen, while Romain Grosjean took fourth for ART Grand Prix in the afternoon.

Provided by the GP2 Series Media Service