Benetton happy after Barcelona test

The Italian also put in the quickest time of the day with a 1.22.45 during the course of 82 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya.

A Benetton spokeswoman stated that Fisichella had completed the laps in the B200 - which was launched two weeks ago.

"This was a fantastic day," Fisichella said afterwards. "I wish all the sessions were as problem free.

"We were able to get a good look at the performance of the car as we covered so many kilometres and we made some real progress on the set-up.

"We still have work to do, but we are certainly heading in the right direction."

Testing at the Spanish circuit was once again disrupted by the weather. Dense fog halted running for the much of the morning session.

Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen was second fastest [1.23.18] in the squad's EJ10 racecar, which was unveiled in London two days ago.

The German lapped the Spanish circuit 48 times.

Alexander Wurz was third quickest [1.23.25] for Benetton.

He spent the day testing a braking and transmission system on last year's B199 racecar, and put in 32 laps.

Benetton is expected to incorporate the new system on the B200.

"The work on these new systems is really interesting and I'm really pleased with the progress we are making," Wurz said.

"I think they'll make strong additions to the B200 package."

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa was over three seconds slower than Fisichella in the Arrows A21.

He was fourth fastest in the 2000 racecar with a 1.25.61, but only completed four laps during the session.

Testing continues on Thursday.

Times from Barcelona: