Carlin duo on top in Silverstone test

On a damp and occasionally drizzly day on the Grand Prix circuit, no one was able to get close to Max Chilton's 2009 pole position time of 1m 39.781s.

Vergne, Svendsen-Cook and Fortec driver Oli Webb were the only drivers to break the 1m41s barrier. Webb set his best time by going quickest in the fourth and final session of the day.

Red Bull-backed French driver Vergne's best time was nearly half a second quicker than Svendsen-Cook could manage, with Webb two tenths further behind. Menasheh Idafar was once again the quickest of the National Class runners in his T-Sport Dallara-Mugen-Honda.

Among those enjoying their first runs with new teams today were Russian racer Max Snegirev (Fortec), Indonesia's Rio Haryanto, in a CF Racing/Manor Motorsport car, and Brazilian Lucas Foresti, who has switched from Hitech Racing to rival squad Carlin.

Foresti ended his day 16th of the 19 International Class runners, some way off the pace of his previous team-mates.

Further testing is scheduled for tomorrow morning, ahead of the championship's media launch.

Leading runners:

Pos Driver                 Car                  Time     
 1. Jean-Eric Vergne       Dallara-Volkswagen   1:40.198s
 2. Rupert Svendsen-Cook   Dallara-Volkswagen   1:40.683s
 3. Oli Webb Fortec        Dallara-Mercedes     1:40.858s
 4. Adriano Buzaid         Dallara-Volkswagen   1:41.473s
 5. Hywel Lloyd            Dallara-Mercedes     1:41.484s
 6. Carlos Huertas         Dallara-Mercedes     1:41.522s
 7. James Calado           Dallara-Volkswagen   1:41.559s
 8. Felipe                 Dallara-Mercedes     1:41.627s
 9. Daisuke Nakajima       Dallara-Mercedes     1:41.840s
10. William Buller         Dallara-Volkswagen   1:41.970s