Pantano tops Monza practice

Local hero Pantano, a double winner here last year for FMS, lapped his Campos Grand Prix car in 1:30.626, some 0.288 seconds quicker than his nearest rival, fellow Italian Luca Filippi (Super Nova).

Pantano's line through Ascari was particularly spectacular, the Italian using all the run-off to maximise his speed onto the following straight.

Adam Carroll was next up for FMS, a couple of tenths back from Filippi's time on 1:31.139. He suffered a quick spin at the Rettifilo seconds after setting his fastest lap.

Championship protagonist Lucas di Grassi was fourth fastest for ART Grand Prix, but he will have been more delighted with rival Timo Glock languishing down in 11th for iSport.

It wasn't all doom and gloom for his team, however, as iSport teammate Andi Zuber was right behind di Grassi in fifth, so Glock was probably concentrating on race set-up.

Xandi Negrao (Minardi/Piquet) was next up, ahead of Mike Conway (Super Nova), Sebastien Buemi (ART), Nicolas Lapierre (DAMS) and Bruno Senna (Arden).

The combination of low downforce and hard compound Bridgestone tyres was always going to lead to spins and crashes.

Rookie Markus Niemala's return to BCN ended after roughly 10 seconds, when he spun on the straight between the first chicane and the Curva Grande and thudded into the Armco, which won't have helped his recently dislocated shoulder.

Andy Soucek (DPR) survived a wild off at Ascari, but ended the session behind new teammate Olivier Pla, who was 24th overall. Pla is in for the still recovering Christian Bakkerud, who has a back problem.

Also still out is Pastor Maldonado, so Ricardo Risetti continues at Trident, but the Venezuelan hopes to be back for Spa as his broken collarbone is healing well.

Pos  Driver      Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Pantano     Campos Grand Prix          1:30.626           14
 2.  Filippi     Super Nova International   1:30.914  + 0.288  16
 3.  Carroll     FMS International          1:31.139  + 0.513  16
 4.  Di Grassi   ART Grand Prix             1:31.381  + 0.755  14
 5.  Zuber       iSport International       1:31.466  + 0.840  15
 6.  Negrao      Minardi Piquet Sports      1:31.498  + 0.872  16
 7.  Conway      Super Nova International   1:31.539  + 0.913  16
 8.  Buemi       ART Grand Prix             1:31.638  + 1.012  15
 9.  Lapierre    DAMS                       1:31.739  + 1.113  16
10.  Senna       Arden International        1:31.778  + 1.152  16
11.  Glock       iSport International       1:31.816  + 1.190  15
12.  Garcia      Durango                    1:31.838  + 1.212  14
13.  Chandhok    Durango                    1:31.892  + 1.266  15
14.  Zaugg       Arden International        1:31.902  + 1.276  15
15.  Hirate      Trident Racing             1:31.987  + 1.361  16
16.  Martinez    Racing Engineering         1:32.029  + 1.403  16
17.  Petrov      Campos Grand Prix          1:32.106  + 1.480  15
18.  Nakajima    DAMS                       1:32.116  + 1.490  17
19.  Tahinci     FMS International          1:32.311  + 1.685  12
20.  Tung        BCN Competicion            1:32.396  + 1.770  18
21.  Rodriguez   Minardi Piquet Sports      1:32.464  + 1.838  18
22.  Risatti     Trident Racing             1:32.649  + 2.023  16
23.  Villa       Racing Engineering         1:32.717  + 2.091  7
24.  Pla         DPR                        1:32.844  + 2.218  16
25.  Soucek      DPR                        1:32.922  + 2.296  16
26.  Niemela     BCN Competicion            No time             1