Villa fastest in Paul Ricard test

The Spaniard posted a best time of 1:13.037 to outpace teammate and championship leader Giorgio Pantano, second quickest overall.

Both men set their best times in the afternoon session.

Third fastest on the day was Piquet Sport's Pastor Maldonado, who topped the times in the morning.

On a trouble-free day, some teams tested new engine-gearbox strategy upgrades, and the series bosses declared themselves pleased with the results.

On the driver side, Estonian Marko Asmer joined the Fisichella Motor Sport International team in the afternoon session.

The BMW Sauber tester ended the day at the bottom of the times.

Renault's test driver Luca di Grassi returned to GP2 action following the annoucement that he will race with the Campo team.

Di Grassi had set the quickest time, but it was disallowed when it was found he had jumped a chicane.

Morning times:

Pos  Driver                Team                   Time      Laps
 1.  Pastor Maldonado      Piquet Sports          1:13.291   26
 2.  Bruno Senna           iSport International   1:13.301   30
 3.  Andreas Zuber         Piquet Sports          1:13.366   28
 4.  Javier Villa          Racing Engineering     1:13.647   18
 5.  Karun Chandhok        iSport International   1:13.665   24
 6.  Giorgio Pantano       Racing Engineering     1:13.779   34
 7.  Vitaly Petrov         Campos Team            1:13.902   31
 8.  Jerome d'Ambrosio     Dams                   1:13.920   22
 9.  Luca Filippi          ART Grand Prix         1:13.959   38
10.  Andy Soucek           BCN Competicion        1:13.961   24
11.  Romain Grosjean       ART Grand Prix         1:13.973   19
12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Dams                   1:14.069   24
13.  Alvaro Parente        Super Nova Racing      1:14.115   31
14.  Lucas Di Grassi       Campos Team            1:14.280   21
15.  Mike Conway           Trident Racing         1:14.327   28
16.  Yelmer Buurman        Trust Team Arden       1:14.496   22
17.  Sebastien Buemi       Trust Team Arden       1:14.508   28
18.  Diego Nunes           DPR                    1:14.643   15
19.  Christian Bakkerud    Super Nova Racing      1:14.671   26
20.  Roldan Rodriguez      FMS International      1:14.875   31
21.  Ho-Pin Tung           Trident Racing         1:14.888   18
22.  Alberto Valerio       Durango                1:15.148   23
23.  Michael Herck         DPR                    1:15.425   38

Afternoon times:

Pos  Driver                Team                   Time     Laps
 1.  Javier Villa          Racing Engineering     1:13.037   25
 2.  Giorgio Pantano       Racing Engineering     1:13.235   34
 3.  Pastor Maldonado      Piquet Sports          1:13.390   34
 4.  Luca Filippi          ART Grand Prix         1:13.410   30
 5.  Karun Chandhok        iSport International   1:13.436   30
 6.  Bruno Senna           iSport International   1:13.465   45
 7.  Romain Grosjean       ART Grand Prix         1:13.628   43
 8.  Andreas Zuber         Piquet Sports          1:13.794   27
 9.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Dams                   1:13.862   24
10.  Lucas Di Grassi       Campos Team            1:13.917   30
11.  Alvaro Parente        Super Nova Racing      1:14.017   39
12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Dams                   1:14.028   34
13.  Vitaly Petrov         Campos Team            1:14.075   25
14.  Diego Nunes           DPR                    1:14.110   18
15.  Alberto Valerio       Durango                1:14.173   33
16.  Andy Soucek           BCN Competicion        1:14.192   38
17.  Sebastien Buemi       Trust Team Arden       1:14.283   37
18.  Mike Conway           Trident Racing         1:14.295   41
19.  Ho-Pin Tung           Trident Racing         1:14.383   47
20.  Yelmer Buurman        Trust Team Arden       1:14.512   39
21.  Roldan Rodriguez      FMS International      1:15.161   18
22.  Michael Herck         DPR                    1:15.373   29
23.  Christian Bakkerud    Super Nova Racing      1:15.423   10
24.  Marko Asmer           FMS International      1:15.951   15