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Kovalainen sets the pace at Jerez

Heikki Kovalainen comfortably topped the times during the first proper day of the final test of the year at Jerez in Spain today

After Toyota had been all alone yesterday, the track was packed throughout today as all F1 teams but Spyker continued their evaluation of Bridgestone's 2007 rubber.

Kovalainen's best lap was 1:19.467, just under half a second faster than Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer.

Badoer's day had been interrupted when he stopped on track at 1:00pm, with the team suspecting that a loss of hydraulic pressure was to blame.

Honda Racing duo Christian Klien and James Rossiter continued with the strong form they showed from last week's test at Jerez, as they finished third and fourth overall - separated by just one hundredth of a second.

Rossiter caused the second red flag of the day when he stopped at 4:15pm with a suspected mechanical problem.

Behind fifth quickest Giancarlo Fisichella, Pedro de la Rosa was McLaren's fastest driver in sixth, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa seventh overall.

Eighth fastest Nick Heidfeld continued to try and overcome the problems his BMW-Sauber team had found in adjusting their F1.06 to the 2007-specification rubber.

Japanese Kazuki Nakajima continued to get some mileage for Williams under his belt as he ended up 13th, with Takuma Sato continuing to work on Super Aguri's interim chassis to set the 14th best time.

Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais ended the day at the bottom of the timesheets after completing 80 laps for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

The Frenchman was seven tenths of a second slower than teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver       Team                      Time       Laps
 1.  Kovalainen   Renault              (B)  1:19.467   112
 2.  Badoer       Ferrari              (B)  1:19.901    78
 3.  Klien        Honda                (B)  1:20.005   122
 4.  Rossiter     Honda                (B)  1:20.016    97
 5.  Fisichella   Renault              (B)  1:20.104   100
 6.  de la Rosa   McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:20.125   110
 7.  Massa        Ferrari              (B)  1:20.160    74
 8.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:20.209    83
 9.  Trulli       Toyota               (B)  1:20.244    93
10.  Montagny     Toyota               (B)  1:20.493    54
11.  Paffett      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:20.541    88
12.  Vettel       BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:20.575    94
13.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:20.859    95
14.  Sato         Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:20.977   121
15.  Ammermuller  Red Bull-Ferrari     (B)  1:21.371    91
16.  Liuzzi       Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (B)  1:21.843    65
17.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (B)  1:22.521    80

All timing unofficial
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