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Massa ends Bahrain test on top

The Bahrain test came to an end on Thursday, with Felipe Massa topping the times for his Ferrari team

The Brazilian posted a best time of 1:32.162 after 113 laps, as he worked on various set-up options for his F60, also concentrating on testing several aerodynamic solutions as well as carrying out reliability work.

Nick Heidfeld was second quickest for BMW Sauber, although the German's day was hindered by two mechanical problems. Despite that, Heidfeld completed 122 laps, the most on the day.

"Although we lost some time due to a sandstorm last week, the long test in Bahrain was very productive," said BMW Sauber's technical director Willy Rampf. "We could work with the cars in temperatures we would not have encountered in Europe at this time of the year, making it good preparation for the first races of the upcoming season.

"We worked mainly on the general set-up of the BMW Sauber F1.09, trying numerous solutions on the mechanical and aero side of the car as well as gaining experience with the three available tyre compounds.

"We also made good progress with KERS. Overall we reached our target of collecting as much data as possible about the car's reactions to changes in the set-up."

Timo Glock's work today was also disrupted by a hydraulics problem in his Toyota, the German managing just 65 laps on his way to the slowest time of the day.

"It was a pity that our last day of work here was disrupted but this has still been a very successful test for us," said Glock. "Today we missed much of the day's action due to a hydraulics problem so it was a shame to lose running time. But the mechanics did a good job and when we made it onto the track we put in some useful work.

"Overall we have put a lot of miles on the TF109 this week. We've made good progress with set-up and I'm confident that this can continue."

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time     Laps
 1.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:32.162  113
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:32.225  122
 3.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:32.445   65

All Timing Unofficial

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