Ferrari again quickest at Barcelona

While Felipe Massa had headed the times on the first two days, it was test driver Luca Badoer who went fastest on Thursday, showing Ferrari still seems to be ahead of its rivals in coping with the new Bridgestone tyres.

Massa was replaced by Ferrari's other test driver Marc Gene, who went sixth quickest.

Renault's Heikki Kovalainen raised his pace after two discreet days and finished second quickest in the R26 after completing 117 laps. The Finn was the busiest man and finished less than three tenths of a second behind Badoer.

BMW-Sauber again showed strong pace, with Robert Kubica posting the third fastest time.

He was joined by Timo Glock, who finally got his test with BMW after postponing it due to a hand injury earlier this year. The GP2 driver was ninth fastest.

Lewis Hamilton continued making progress towards the top of the times, the Briton finishing fourth quickest in the first of the McLarens.

Most attention was focused on the second Mercedes-powered car, driven by returning two-time champion Mika Hakkinen.

The Finn, having his first serious run in an F1 car since the 2001 Japanese Grand Prix, managed 77 laps but finished at the bottom of the times, three seconds off Badoer's pace.

There were two red flags during the day, the first caused by Williams's Narain Karthikeyan and the final one by Glock near the end of the session.

Thursday's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time     Laps
 1.  Badoer        Ferrari              (B)  1:16.317   88
 2.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  1:16.609  117
 3.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:16.729   65
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:17.077   86
 5.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  1:17.190  115
 6.  Gene          Ferrari              (B)  1:17.340   82
 7.  Schumacher    Toyota               (B)  1:17.359   92
 8.  Piquet        Renault              (B)  1:17.428   95
 9.  Glock         BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:17.632  100
10.  Klien         Honda                (B)  1:17.774  105
11.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (B)  1:17.876   83
12.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:18.019   72
13.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:18.045  111
14.  Karthikeyan   Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:18.087   78
15.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (B)  1:18.528   95
16.  Ammermuller   Red Bull-Ferrari     (B)  1:18.741   71
17.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (B)  1:18.798   99
18.  Hakkinen      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:19.340   77

Distance covered   Km   Laps
Honda            1017.9  220
Renault           990.2  214
Toro Rosso        897.6  194
Ferrari           791.2  171
McLaren           768.1  166
BMW-Sauber        763.5  165
Toyota            758.8  164
Red Bull          712.6  154
Super Aguri       513.6  111
Williams          360.9   78

All Timing Unofficial