Javier Villa set the pace on the first day of testing at Paul Ricard today as all thirteen teams scheduled to take part in the 2009 GP2 Series championship got their preparations underway.

While no modifications have been made to the aerodynamic configuration or suspension, the GP2 cars now benefit from a new engine. Built on the existing engine block and crankshaft, the 2009 engine has completely new cylinder heads and top half in order to improve cooling of the cylinders and, hence, provide a substantial gain in the sustained power while reducing performance throughout the entire rev range. This will allow the teams to better use the engine power curve, and deliver an additional 25hp over the entire rev range.

All the drivers used the Bridgestone medium compounds on the 3D configuration track.

This morning it was Javier Villa (Super Nova) who set the pace closely followed by DAMS' Kamui Kobayashi and Piquet GP's Alberto Valerio. Luca Filippi in the second Super Nova car finished fourth ahead of Pastor Maldonado (ART Grand Prix), Romain Grosjean (Barwa Campos Team(, Roldan Rodriguez at the wheel of the second Piquet machine, Vitaly Petrov (Barwa Campos Team) and Andreas Zuber (FMS). Belgian Jérôme d'Ambrosio (DAMS) completed the Top Ten.

In the afternoon, Villa remained the pace-setter. Clocked a best time of 1:11.930 this makes him the new track record holder after he bettered last year's time posted by Romain Grosjean (1:12.031).

2007 runner-up Lucas di Grassi was also on top form this afternoon, finishing second quickest at the wheel of his Fat Burner Racing Engineering car, ahead of GP2 Asia Series leader Kamui Kobayashi of DAMS.

Romain Grosjean finished fourth quickest ahead of Pastor Maldonado (ART Grand Prix), Andreas Zuber, Luca Filippi in the second Super Nova car, Davide Valsecchi (Durango) and Jérôme d'Ambrosio

Didier Perrin, GP2 Technical Director said: "We are very pleased with today's results. 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. The cars completed a total of 4493 kilometres. Following the teams' request, we will use different track configurations for the remaining testing days. Tomorrow will mainly be dedicated to aero mapping and high speed configuration on the 2A track configuration that includes a long straight. And on Friday, we will run on the 2D short track configuration which is the closest to a circuit layout that carries more delicate braking points."