Premat has raced in the shadow of rookie team-mate Hamilton just about all season, but will hope for greater success on home soil as he attempts to cut the deficit to the two drivers ahead of him. However, given the state of the championship, and the close nature of the racing, the Frenchman also has to keep one eye looking over his shoulder as the tight battle for fourth place - which currently has Ernesto Viso (26 points), Michael Ammermuller (25), Nicolas Lapierre (25), Adam Carroll (21) and Gianmaria Bruni (20) separated by just six points - threatens to close in on him.
Viso had as much to take from the Ricard test as anyone, as the iSport International team showed improved pace from both its cars, with the Venezuelan and new team-mate
Timo Glock posting top five times across the two days and pacing day one at the head of the timesheets.
Silverstone was a nightmare for Viso - as it has so often been since his graduation from F3 - while Glock proved that the switch from BCN to iSport could benefit more than just his team-mate by claiming a brace of podia. The German could again be the dark horse this weekend, having moved himself into a handy ninth place in points, one spot behind Bruni.
Fastest in he mid-season test, however, was Jose Maria Lopez, perhaps the biggest enigma of the season so far. Running with Super Nova instead of DAMS, the Argentine was expected to be a title contender in his second year of GP2, but has mixed misfortune with mistakes among the odd good run, and tenth place in the points reflects a poor first half. A runners-up position in last year's feature race in France will no doubt give Lopez as much confidence as the test result, and he will look to make inroad into the top five - if not, perhaps, to P1 - overall.
