Kiesa quickest in Croft showdown

The majority of drivers set their times in the first session when the track was quicker, but Kiesa, despite not improving his time, stayed ahead of the opposition.

"I saw the time and couldn't believe it," he said. "It felt as though I have been driving in F3 for ages. It didn't feel that quick, but considering that we haven't changed the car since we were last here it is very encouraging."

After the two 40 minute sessions, the reigning Formula Ford champion placed his Opel-powered Dallara ahead of Stewart Racing's Narain Karthikeyan (Dallara Mugen Honda) and Antonio Pizzonia.

The championship leader improved to third from sixth fastest having tried different set-ups for the car. "We tried different options but I missed the quickest part of the session," said Pizzonia. "Then I had to bed in brake pads so that lost me time."

The man from the Amazon was fastest of all in session two, just a tenth quicker than Kiesa.

Ben Collins completed the day fourth in his Carlin Motorsport Dallara, just ahead of Takuma Sato and Tomas Scheckter.

Despite running old tyres, Gary Paffett was fastest in the Scholarship Class ahead of Atsushi Katsumata and Bristolian Philip Hopkins, the latter wearing spectacles for the first time. Championship newcomer Marcel Romanio, driving for Meritus, was fourth in class.

Testing times

1: Nicolas Kiesa (Dallara Opel) 1m13.973

2: Narain Karthikeyan (Dallara Mugen-Honda) 1m14.085

3: Antonio Pizzonia (Dallara Mugen-Honda) 1m14.421

4: Ben Collins (Dallara Mugen-Honda) 1m14.347

5: Takuma Sato (Dallara Mugen-Honda) 1m14.397

6: Tomas Scheckter (Dallara Mugen-Honda) 1m14.406

Scholarship Class: 15 overall: Gary Paffett (Dallara-Renault) 1m15.400