Alonso quickest again at Ricard

Alonso was followed on the timesheets by teammate Heikki Kovalainen, as the French squad enjoyed a productive day, covering well over 200 laps in their preparations for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve also had a good day on his way to the third fastest time of the day, the BMW driver completing 148 laps. Villeneuve, however, caused the only red flag of the day when his engine expired near the end of the session.

Red Bull's Christian Klien was a promising fourth quickest for Red Bull, who had two drivers on track today. Scot David Coulthard was eighth fastest, but both him and Klien completed very few laps compared to their rivals.

The Toyota team continued working on the revised TF106B chassis that they will race for the first time at the Monaco Grand Prix next week. Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher completed their two-day work before testers Olivier Panis and Ricardo Zonta wrap up the test on Frday.

Felipe Massa, the only Ferrari driver in Paul Ricard, carried out aerodynamic work at the wheel of the 248 F1, the Brazilian covering 120 laps on his way to the sixth quickest time of the day.

Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen were again in charge of testing duties for McLaren, both men showing discreet pace. The Colombian was seventh quickest while his Finnish teammate was down in ninth.

Tonio Liuzzi took over from Toro Rosso teammate Scott Speed to focus on reliability work at the wheel of the Cosworth-powered car. Liuzzi was the busiest man on track, covering 169 laps.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time      Laps
 1.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  1:05.363  122
 2.  Kovalainen    Renault              (M)  1:05.546  111
 3.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber           (M)  1:05.563  148
 4.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  1:05.577   50
 5.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:05.624  143
 6.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:05.686  120
 7.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:06.008  121
 8.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  1:06.083   47
 9.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:06.266   75
10.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  1:06.333  112
11.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  1:06.369  169
12.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (M)  1:06.619   93

All Timing Unofficial