Di Grassi tops Barcelona GP2 test

The series returnee, now driving for the Racing Engineering squad that took Giorgio Pantano to last year's title, was quickest by three tenths of a second.

Alvaro Parente was a highly impressive second for Tiago Monteiro's Ocean Racing Technology team, which had struggled for pace in its previous BCN guise. The former World Series by Renault and British Formula 3 champion had been fastest of all in the morning session.

DAMS driver Jerome D'Ambrosio was third, ahead of Campos Racing's Vitaly Petrov and ART duo Pastor Maldonado and Vitaly Petrov.

Only three seats are unaccounted for in this year's main GP2 Series, but both teams involved tried out potential drivers in today's test.

Trident Racing - which has yet to sign a driver for either of its cars - re-called Superleague Formula star Davide Rigon for a second outing, and also tested F3 graduate Ricardo Teixeira.

F3 Euro Series frontrunner James Jakes was in action for DPR, the other team still searching for a driver. Michael Herck has already been confirmed for the team, but its second car is currently empty.

The Barcelona test, which runs until Wednesday, is the final practice opportunity prior to the start of the GP2 season.

Monday's combined testing times:

Pos  Driver               Team                Time
 1.  Lucas di Grassi      Racing Engineering  1:27.471
 2.  Alvaro Parente       Ocean               1:27.733
 3.  Jerome d'Ambrosio    DAMS                1:27.854
 4.  Vitaly Petrov        Campos              1:27.897
 5.  Pastor Maldonado     ART                 1:27.936
 6.  Nico Hulkenberg      ART                 1:27.973
 7.  Javier Villa         Super Nova          1:28.036
 8.  Davide Valsecchi     Durango             1:28.077
 9.  Roldan Rodriguez     Piquet              1:28.123
10.  Kamui Kobayashi      DAMS                1:28.159
11.  Luca Filippi         Super Nova          1:28.200
12.  Alberto Valerio      Piquet              1:28.435
13.  Karun Chandhok       Ocean               1:28.474
14.  Edoardo Mortara      Arden               1:28.566
15.  Diego Nunes          iSport              1:28.608
16.  Sergio Perez         Arden               1:28.627
17.  Dani Clos            Racing Engineering  1:28.675
18.  Andreas Zuber        Fisichella          1:28.790
19.  Giedo van der Garde  iSport              1:28.806
20.  Michael Herck        DPR                 1:28.850
21.  Romain Grosjean      Campos              1:28.910
22.  Nelson Panciatici    Durango             1:28.925
23.  Davide Rigon         Trident             1:29.761
24.  Luiz Razia           Fisichella          1:29.805
25.  James Jakes          DPR                 1:30.088
26.  Ricardo Teixeira     Trident             1:34.105