Davidson fastest on final day at Jerez

Davidson and fellow Honda test driver James Rossiter, who ended the day second fastest, were putting more mileage on the latest development Honda engine that the Japanese company are hoping to introduce at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Both drivers completed the day without any problems, with Davidson completing 161 laps and Rossiter 107 laps. That reliability provided a welcome boost to Honda, who last weekend endured a difficult time in Monza with the new power units.

As well as completing the engine mileage, Davidson and Rossiter worked through tyres for Shanghai - and the long run pace appeared to be very competitive.

Red Bull Racing's Robert Doornbos was third fastest, just five hundredths of a second slower than Rossiter as he continued gearing up for his maiden outing with the team in China.

Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella brought two red flags out over the course of the day to end up fourth on the timesheets.

The Italian stopped at the first corner just before 10:00am with a minor technical glitch that was quickly resolved, before ending his testing programme with another problem at 4:59pm.

"Today was a lot better (than yesterday)," Fisichella told autosport.com. "We had no reliability problems with the engine and did some tyre work for China.

"We found something good there, so nothing like yesterday. the electrical problems were nothing major."

Heikki Kovalainen returned to the testing programme following his illness on Thursday, but he was still not 100 percent fit. Both Renault drivers worked on preparations for China.

The only other driver running was Michael Ammermuller, making his Formula One testing debut, after a season in the GP2 series.

The German was six tenths slower than Kovalainen and spun off the track at one point, although his car suffered no damage.

"I did some set-ups, tried out different things, and basically the team gave me the car to work on it," Ammermuller told autosport.com.

"I did not do the tyre work, and I am quite happy with the time I did, as I did that in the middle of the day - and here you do not go quicker in the afternoon, so I think it's OK."

Ammermuller is favourite to get the third driver role for Red Bull Racing in the final three races of the year, in place of Doornbos, who will be racing alongside David Coulthard.

However, asked about the opportunity, Ammermuller quipped: "I haven't been asked yet!"

Today's times:

Pos  Driver       Team                  Time       Laps
 1.  Davidson     Honda            (M)  1:16.675   161
 2.  Rossiter     Honda            (M)  1:17.008   107
 3.  Doornbos     Red Bull-Ferrari (M)  1:17.057   120
 4.  Fisichella   Renault          (M)  1:17.059   169
 5.  Kovalainen   Renault          (M)  1:17.182   114
 6.  Ammermuller  Red Bull-Ferrari (M)  1:17.744   101