12/03/2009
NEWS STORY
Lucas di Grassi set the pace on the second day of testing at Paul Ricard, as the teams switched to the 2A configuration.
The thirteen teams on duty were concentrating on aero mapping and high speed configuration today, and the 2A lay-out includes a long straight ideal for such work.
In the morning, Romain Grosjean set the pace in his Barwa Campos car. The Frenchman was closely followed by Spaniard rookie Dani Clos (Fat Burner Racing Engineering) and yesterday's pace-setter Javier Villa.
Behind the Top 3, ART's Pastor Maldonado led DPR's Michael Herck. Lucas di Grassi finished sixth in the second Fat Burner Racing Engineering car, ahead of Alvaro Parente (Ocean Racing Technology), Andreas Zuber, Nico Hülkenberg and Jérôme d'Ambrosio
The top twenty-one drivers were covered by just one second.
In the afternoon session, it was di Grassi who posted the fastest lap time, closely followed by his young teammate Dani Clos. Following their 2008 success, Racing Engineering clearly start their 2009 campaign with the same kind of competitiveness.
Behind the Racing Engineering duo, ART's Pastor Maldonado and Super Nova's Javier Villa also confirmed their good form, both improving on their morning time. Vitaly Petrov (Barwa Campos Team) completed the top five, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, Nico Hülkenberg in the second ART car, Jérôme d'Ambrosio and this pace-setter Grosjean.
Telmex Arden's Edoardo Mortara and Ocean Racing's Alvaro Parente, who finished respectively 6th and 8th this afternoon, had their lap times deleted after it was found that they were running underweight.
Overall, the top twenty-three drivers were covered by 0.928s.