De Cesaris fastest at Silverstone

The Italian, who has been out of action completely since his F1 career came to an end in 1994, outpaced Mansell by just five hundredths of a second over the intensive two-day test session that gave the ex-F1 drivers their first proper taste of their new cars.

Stefan Johansson was third quickest, ahead of Derek Warwick, Alex Caffi and Hans Stuck as all the drivers were left raving about the Delta Motorsport-built cars.

De Cesaris told autosport.com: "The cars are really good and behave like real racing cars. The people here have done a great job and have built up something professional. I really hope for them that this series is successful."

Johansson added: "These cars are good. They are bloody quick and a lot of fun. I certainly take my hat off to the organisers because they have done a fantastic job."

The first GP Masters race takes place at Kyalami in South Africa on November 13.

Leading times:

Pos  Driver       Time    Laps
1.  de Cesaris    59.310   90
2.  Mansell       59.366  122
3.  Johansson     59.623  106
4.  Warwick       59.687  150
5.  Caffi         60.300   82
6.  Stuck         60.700   74
7.  Tambay        61.929  146
8.  Danner        63.062   40