The test session, with its wide mix of drivers posting fast times - Durango's Lucas di Grassi headed the opening morning after the Italian was allowed back into the fold - raised more questions than answers, especially as ART finished some way down the order with both drivers. Were the champions sandbagging, or merely concentrating on different areas to outright speed? Only the rest of the season will tell...
The French contingent will at least have one other driver to cheer for this weekend, after the
Silverstone event threatened to leave the cupboard a little bare. While Premat and Franck Perera continue their campaigns, Olivier Pla returns to the fray with DPR Direxiv, having had to miss the British round with a broken wrist. A tentative test at Ricard two weeks ago showed that the injury was on the mend, and Pla returns looking to add to his meagre points tally on home soil, but countryman Lapierre will be missing once again, his injured back not having healed sufficiently to allow him to compete on the circuit where his family has business interests. Neel Jani will again combine
F1 test duties with Toro Rosso with a GP2 race weekend.
As Lapierre and those that grew up racing in France know well, Magny-Cours is a tough circuit at the best of times. Its mix of long, wide straights, hard braking zones and fast, flowing corners combine with one of the slipperiest surfaces - even when rubbered in - and requires levels of concentration to be at maximum throughout. With temperature fluctuations causing further changes, not so much session to session as minute to minute, the team which has the ability to react quickest usually finds the best results.
