Doornbos on top at Mont Tremblant

Seven teams and twelve drivers took to the Canadian track for the first of a two-day testing session, with Dutchman Doornbos clocking the best time of the day with a lap of 1:17.97 as Minardi Team USA dominated with session, with his teammate Dan Clarke finishing as second quickest.

The day, however, was marked by the return of Paul Tracy, who was back in action for the first time since he injured his back in a crash at Long Beach in the second round of the series.

The Canadian, who will return to racing in Portland, finished down in ninth on the timesheets, but he was delighted to be back behind the wheel.

"It feels great, I have been sitting around for the last five weeks and I definitely know that I am not ready to retire," said Tracy. "I was driving my wife and my friends crazy. It's good to be back in the car again and get busy again, this is where I want to be.

"Obviously standing around all day it can get uncomfortable, it's going to take a little while longer before not having any aches and pains but when I am in the car, I feel fine."

Most drivers expressed their delight at the track layout, despite many of them testing there for the first time.

"It's a fun track to drive and it's a really quick track," said Alex Tagliani, eighth quickest. "It is also very weird to see all these big transporters in the paddock of Tremblant. We're finally here. I think it is going to be a very good race for the spectators to watch.

Justin Wilson added: "It's amazing with our cars, with the speeds we can achieve. I am quite amazed with the speeds we go and when the car is running fine, like today, it makes it easier."

The Mont Tremblant test concludes today.

Pos  Driver                Time 
 1.  Robert Doornbos       1:17.97
 2.  Dan Clarke            1:18.10
 3.  Sebastien Bourdais    1:18.19
 4.  Simon Pagenaud        1:18.21
 5.  Will Power            1:18.41
 6.  Graham Rahal          1:18.45
 7.  Justin Wilson         1:18.61
 8.  Alex Tagliani         1:18.98
 9.  Paul Tracy            1:19.02
10.  Tristan Gommendy      1:19.21
11.  Alex Figge            1:20.77
12.  Ryan Dalziel          1:20.87