Formula Master vice-champion Fabio Leimer enjoyed a solid debut in GP2 machinery after posting the quickest rookie time on the morning of his day of running at Paul Ricard.

The 19-year-old Swiss driver took part in the test with Trident Racing as a prize for finishing runner-up in the 2008 Formula Master Series, getting behind the wheel of the GP2 Dallara on Tuesday.

Despite being his first experience in a GP2 car, Leimer was fastest with only a few minutes left of the wet morning session although as the track began to dry he was demoted to tenth place with a best lap of 1min 23.844secs.

Wet weather conditions made the afternoon more difficult, although Leimer still improved his time and posted a fastest lap of 1min 18.353secs despite heavy traffic, raking him 21st overall.

"It was great to be fastest for a few minutes in the morning," he said. "It rained again for most of the afternoon but I was always in traffic so I couldn't set a fast time.

"It was really nice to test a GP2 car in any case. The main difference for me between the Formula Master car and GP2 was the amount of throttle you could use when exiting corners. I had to be more careful than I would in Formula Master as the track was slippery and it was easy to wheel-spin.

"The power of the car was not a problem though, the step from Formula Master is not overwhelming, which is good, and it was the same in the Indy Lights test last week in America. I've learnt a lot over the past few weeks and I'd like to thank Formula Master for both experiences."