Seasoned GP2 Series aces Pastor Maldonado, Andreas Zuber and Luca Filippi again demonstrated the value of experience on the third day of testing at Paul Ricard, but further down the timesheets it was the presence of the category's first-ever female racer that really caught the eye.
Having switched from iSport International to ART Grand Prix, Maldonado showed few ill-effects from the collar bone-breaking training incident that had ruled the Monaco race-winner out of the final four rounds of the 2007 campaign, by searing to the fastest time in the afternoon. Having trailed Zuber by a scant 0.013s in the morning session, the Venezuelan would later turn the tables on his rival by storming to the top of the standings.
Zuber – who has run with a different team on every day of the test – eventually wound up fifth on his first outing for FMS International, behind an impressive Mike Conway (Minardi Piquet Sports), Luca Filippi (Racing Engineering) and Conway's countryman and Minardi Piquet Sports ‘team-mate' Ben Hanley, the World Series by Renault front-runner also sealing the honour of being the top rookie on his first full day's testing. The two Brits proved evenly-matched as both ran in the top five all day long.
Borja Garcia was a consistent sixth for championship-winning squad iSport International, with Vitaly Petrov seventh for Campos Grand Prix, Karun Chandhok eighth in his DPR machine, Marcos Martinez ninth for Racing Engineering and DAMS' Giedo van der Garde rounding out the top ten at the close of proceedings.
Particular attention, though, was focused elsewhere in the pit-lane at Campos Grand Prix, as Simona De Silvestro became the first female ever to take part in an official GP2 session. The Swiss Champ Car Atlantic star acquitted herself well in her new surroundings, posting a fastest lap time of 1m 15.049s to wind up 22nd of the 26 drivers present, just 1.5 seconds adrift of her team-mate for the afternoon, Valencia feature race-winner Petrov.
![The eyes have it: GP2 Series front-runner Pastor Maldonado [pic credit: GP2 Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/393800.jpg)
