Kobayashi leads Shanghai test

Fresh from dominating the recent Paul Ricard test sessions, DAMS driver Kobayashi was quickest at Shanghai today as the teams geared up for the season-opening Chinese Grand Prix support races next weekend.

Kobayashi set a lap in 1:45.963 in the afternoon to beat second-placed compatriot Sakon Yamamoto (ART) by three tenths of a second, ahead of Piquet driver Roldan Rodriguez and Jerome D'Ambrosio in the second DAMS car.

Formula Renault 3.5 champion Giedo van der Garde was the best of the drivers without a GP2 start to their name in fifth place for former champions iSport.

Having caused a lengthy red flag after his Fisichella car deposited a large amount of oil on the circuit in the morning, Andreas Zuber took sixth later on.

Former Formula One and Champ Car driver Alex Yoong drove for the Meritus team, who plan to announce their 2008/9 season driver line-up after evaluating various contenders during this week's two-day test. Alongside Yoong, they also tried out Kiwi teenager Earl Bamber, who starred on his A1GP debut at Zandvoort last weekend.

Morning session:

Pos  Driver               Team                       Time      Laps
 1.  Kamui Kobayashi      DAMS                       1:47.361  11
 2.  Davide Valsecchi     Durango                    1:47.389  20
 3.  Roldan Rodriguez     Piquet GP                  1:47.397  21
 4.  Giedo Van der Garde  GFH Team iSport            1:47.660  14
 5.  Luca Filippi         BCN Competicion            1:48.032  12
 6.  Sakon Yamamoto       ART Grand Prix             1:48.085  13
 7.  Nelson Philippe      ART Grand Prix             1:48.091  27
 8.  Sergio Perez         Barwa Int Campos Team      1:48.214  32
 9.  Mika Maki            Trust Team Arden           1:48.218  26
10.  Vitaly Petrov        Barwa Intl Campos Team     1:48.229  13
11.  Hamad Al Fardan      GFH Team iSport            1:48.385  24
12.  Michael Herck        DPR                        1:48.420  23
13.  Yuhi Sekiguchi       DPR                        1:48.697  16
14.  Andreas Zuber        Fisichella Motor Sport     1:48.942  10
15.  Jerome D'Ambrosio    DAMS                       1:49.508   5
16.  Chris Van der Drift  Trident Racing             1:51.427   8
17.  Kevin Nai Chia Chen  Fisichella Motor Sport     1:52.646  24
18.  Javier Villa         Super Nova Racing          2:02.573    4
19.  James Jakes          Super Nova Racing          2:20.367    3
20   Alex Yoong           My Team Qi-Meritus.Mahara  8:17.641    1

Afternoon session:

Pos  Driver               Team                       Time      Laps
 1.  Kamui Kobayashi      DAMS                       1:45.963  23
 2.  Sakon Yamamoto       ART Grand Prix             1:46.255  25
 3.  Roldan Rodriguez     Piquet GP                  1:46.491  14
 4.  Jerome D'Ambrosio    DAMS                       1:46.540  39
 5.  Giedo Van der Garde  GFH Team iSport            1:46.599  21
 6.  Andreas Zuber        Fisichella Motor Sport     1:46.721  36
 7.  Davide Valsecchi     Durango                    1:46.785  13
 8.  James Jakes          Super Nova Racing          1:47.083  36
 9.  Vital y Petrov       Barwa Int Campos Team      1:47.090  21
10.  Mika Maki            Trust Team Arden           1:47.126  13
11.  Nelson Philippe      ART Grand Prix             1:47.161  24
12.  Sergio Perez         Barwa Int Campos Team      1:47.169  16
13.  Hamad Al Fardan      GFH Team iSport            1:47.187  18
14.  Michael Herck        DPR                        1:47.430  39
15.  Yuhi Sekiguchi       DPR                        1:47.591  19
16.  Alex Yoong           My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara  1:47.979  35
17.  Luca Filippi         BCN Competicion            1:48.038   6
18.  Earl Bamber          My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara  1:48.065  18
19.  Javier Villa         Super Nova Racing          1:48.084  27
20   Giacomo Ricci        Trident Racing             1:48.664  17
21.  Chris Van der Drift  Trident Racing             1:49.174   4
22.  Kevin Nai Chia Chen  Fisichella Motor Sport     1:51.518  16