Maldonado tops Monaco practice
Pastor Maldonado was the surprise pacesetter in the first GP2 free practice session at Monaco on Thursday
Maldonado, whose most recent Monaco experience involved dominating last year's Renault World Series race, was in inspired form and topped the session in his Trident-run car with a lap of 1:23.320.
That was despite running very wide at Rascasse, and various other hairy sideways moments.
Championship leader Timo Glock was second fastest, 0.126 seconds in arrears, in his iSport entry. His session also included a scare when he straightlined the Swimming Pool at high speed, fortunately without hitting anything.
Giorgio Pantano was third fastest for Campos Grand Prix, just a fraction slower than Glock, while Lucas di Grassi was fourth fastest for ART.
Andy Soucek was fifth fastest, but smashed the left-side of his DPR car against the barriers at Massenet.
Newcomer Sebastien Buemi was a surprising sixth fastest for ART in his first-ever GP2 session. He outpaced Andi Zuber (iSport), Antonio Pizzonia (FMS), Vitaly Petrov (Campos) and Barcelona winner Bruno Senna (Arden).
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Maldonado Trident Racing 1:23.320 15 2. Glock iSport International 1:23.446 + 0.126 16 3. Pantano Campos Grand Prix 1:23.472 + 0.152 19 4. Di Grassi ART Grand Prix 1:23.677 + 0.357 19 5. Soucek DPR 1:23.820 + 0.500 14 6. Buemi ART Grand Prix 1:24.288 + 0.968 20 7. Zuber iSport International 1:24.455 + 1.135 19 8. Pizzonia FMS International 1:24.588 + 1.268 18 9. Petrov Campos Grand Prix 1:24.769 + 1.449 19 10. Hirate Trident Racing 1:24.986 + 1.666 19 11. Senna Arden International 1:25.004 + 1.684 19 12. Lapierre DAMS 1:25.035 + 1.715 19 13. Negrao Minardi Piquet Sports 1:25.146 + 1.826 18 14. Filippi Super Nova International 1:25.199 + 1.879 19 15. Garcia Durango 1:25.418 + 2.098 17 16. Chandhok Durango 1:25.420 + 2.100 17 17. Villa Racing Engineering 1:25.804 + 2.484 16 18. Bakkerud DPR 1:25.846 + 2.526 19 19. Yamamoto BCN Competicion 1:26.052 + 2.732 19 20. Tung BCN Competicion 1:26.369 + 3.049 19 21. Nakajima DAMS 1:26.508 + 3.188 19 22. Zaugg Arden International 1:26.554 + 3.234 17 23. Jimenez Racing Engineering 1:26.627 + 3.307 18 24. Rodriguez Minardi Piquet Sports 1:27.055 + 3.735 19 25. Conway Super Nova International 1:27.142 + 3.822 17 26. Tahinci FMS International 1:27.291 + 3.971 17
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