The 2007 GP2 Series began last week with the first test of the year taking place at Circuit Paul Ricard, France. With half the drivers on the Bridgestone shod grid new to the series, and the majority of those coming back for more having changed teams, the two-day test was the first real chance for the new line-ups to mould the relationships that could make or break their championship chances.

Day One of testing was dominated by Timo Glock and Giorgio Pantano - the two standout performers from the end of the 2006 season - who took the quickest laps of the morning and afternoon respectively.

Glock, who signed a Formula One test deal with BMW over the winter, remains many pundits’ favourite for the 2007 title as he is set to contest the season with iSport International, the team he formed such a powerful combination with last year.

Pantano has put his fate in the hands of the newly renamed Campos Grand Prix team. Still to win a race in the 2 years of the series, former F1 driver and now GP2 team boss Adrian Campos is convinced that with Giorgio he can not only win races, but also mount a serious championship challenge.

This year sees the introduction of an all-new aero kit, comprising a brand new rear wing assembly, a top wing mounted on the engine cover, new side-pod mounted chimneys to aid cooling, and T wings mounted on the rear flip-ups. Despite the first day of testing taking place on the familiar “3D” track formation, it was back to stage one for all the teams as they got to grips with this new increase in rear end downforce.

It was also a chance for the teams to show off their new liveries and sponsors. ART Grand Prix impressed with a very retro-funky design, while DPR left everyone guessing over the identity of their new sponsor as they ran with the mysterious “T-51” logo signalling 51 days until the first day of the first race of the season in Bahrain.

Day Two saw an all-new track layout with the “2A” formation in use to allow the teams to run aero mapping tests on the revised cars. Lucas di Grassi put his ART Grand Prix top in the morning and repeated the feat in the afternoon.

The top four drivers in the afternoon were covered by less than three tenths of a second, with iSport’s Andi Zuber leading Michael Ammermueller (above) in the second ART and Glock in the second iSport all just behind di Grassi.

But while ART and iSport took the early advantage, the real story from Ricard was that after just two days of running, the top 20 drivers were covered by a single second. 2007 is already looking set to be an ultra competitive championship.

Bridgestone