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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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