Ben Hanley showed that his form in the latest round of the GP2 Asia Series was no fluke by topping the times on the first day of testing for the category's main summer series.
The Briton, who had scant experience in a GP2 car before being called up to debut in the Sentul double-header earlier this month, claimed the honours for Campos Grand Prix on the day teams got to run the new-for-2008 Dallara chassis for the first time, clocking 1min 12.652secs around Paul Ricard's 03D circuit option to head veteran Andi Zuber by just under a tenth. Hanley's top spot did come slightly be default, as true pacesetter Pastor Maldonado was stripped of all his times when his rear wing was found to be illegally set up.
On a good day for the UK, Mike Conway scooped third spot on his first outing of the year with Trident, while Bruno Senna and Javi Villa both got under Adrian Valles' morning benchmark to complete the top five overall.
All 26 cars managed to complete laps during the first of two scheduled days of testing at the French circuit, although there were a few teething troubles for some. Having recently been confirmed as part of DPR's line-up for the summer season, Diego Nunes was forced to sit out the morning session as his mechanics worked on the set-up of the car.
This has been a great first test session for the 2008 GP2 car," series organiser Bruno Michel commented, "Its reliability is the achievement of exceptional work from our partners Renault and
Bridgestone, as well as our official suppliers Dallara and Mecachrome. Seeing the 26 cars perform so well today gives us high hopes for the season to come. We're really looking forward to the first races.
The top ten in the faster afternoon session was completed by Davide Valsecchi, Kamui Kobayashi - showing better form than in his Asian campaign - Vitaly Petrov, Giorgio Pantano and Valles, the Spaniard unable to repeat the 1min 12.880secs effort with which he topped the morning's outing.
![Ben Hanley - Barwa International Campos Team [pic credit: GP2 Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/410923.jpg)
