Alonso stays on top at Valencia

The two-time world champion, driving the new Mercedes-powered MP4-22, was over a tenth of a second slower than yesterday, but still managed to emerge on top of the times after 84 laps.

McLaren had two cars running today after only Alonso was in action yesterday. The Spaniard was joined by compatriot Pedro de la Rosa, who drove the second MP4-22 chassis after the team repaired it following Lewis Hamilton's crash last week.

World champions Renault finished close behind Alonso, although both Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen completed limited running during the day.

Between the two, they covered less laps than Alonso, with Fisichella causing one of three red flags of the day when his engine seemed to blow up around 3pm.

"The weather dictated our running once again today," said Fisichella. "We waited for a long time, which ate into our programme, but these things happens.

"I had a mechanical problem but I'm not worried - the team is working to find out what happened, and it is always better to have these problems in testing... We will carry on with the programme tomorrow, hopefully with some better weather."

Kimi Raikkonen, in the Ferrari F2007, was fourth quickest as he continued his acclimation to the Italian cars.

The Finn was joined by teammate Felipe Massa, the Brazilian taking to the track in last year's 248 F1 car. Massa forced the session to be stopped in the afternoon when he spun off the wet track.

The circuit started out dry after yesterday's rain, and it dried out throughout the morning, only for another short shower to hinder the test again around 3pm. Nearly 10,000 spectators attended the event today.

The final red flag of the day was caused by BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, who stopped on track with one hour of the session remaining. Despite that, the German, joined today by teammate Robert Kubica, posted a promising fifth fastest time in the F1.07 car. Kubica was hit by a small fire caused by a hydraulic leak.

Toyota continued with the development of the new TF107, which began its first testing session yesterday. Italian Jarno Trulli was sixth fastest while teammate Ralf Schumacher, taking over from test driver Franck Montagny, got his first taste of the new car, covering 31 laps.

Honda's Rubens Barrichello was again the man in charge of testing duties at the wheel of the new RA107, with Briton James Rossiter driving the interim car. Barrichello enjoyed a more productive day than yesterday, completing 72 laps but finishing over a second behind Alonso.

Kazuki Nakajima was the busiest man of the day by quite some margin after covering 116 laps of the Spanish track in the interim Williams, powered by a Toyota engine.

Takuma Sato and Guido van de Garde were in action for the Super Aguri team, the Dutchman making his debut since being announced as the Japanese squad's third driver.

Van de Garde, however, managed just four laps and finished at the bottom of the times. The Super Aguri driver is hoping to complete the required mileage to get his superlicence tomorrow.

Red Bull's new RB3 car had another unimpressive day, with David Coulthard covering only 26 laps and finishing over three seconds off the pace. The Scot was hit by a gearbox problem and did not manage a lap in fully dry conditions all day.

Following the poor weather over the first two days of the test, most teams have decided to extend their programmes until Friday.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time      Laps
 1.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:12.682   84
 2.  Fisichella    Renault              (B)  1:12.737   37
 3.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  1:12.770   43
 4.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:12.869   51
 5.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:13.012   48
 6.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:13.297   46
 7.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:13.310   42
 8.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:13.574   78  *
 9.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  1:13.690   72
10.  Rossiter      Honda                (B)  1:13.732   28  *
11.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  1:13.839   31
12.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:14.286   46
13.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:14.401  116
14.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:14.812   36  *
15.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:15.939   26
16.  van de Garde  Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:26.348    4  *

* Old/interim car

All Timing Unofficial