De la Rosa Shines at Barcelona - Day Three

Pedro de la Rosa moved his McLaren-Mercedes team to the top of the timesheets on the penultimate day of this week's test at the Barcelona circuit.

Spaniard de la Rosa, the only McLaren driver on track today after Juan Pablo Montoya completed his programme yesterday, managed a best lap of 1:14.542, slightly slower than the best time of the week, set by Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella yesterday.

"This week has seen another productive test, with the race team taking over duties from the test team to allow us to iron out any issues before the Australian Grand Prix," said McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh.

"The strength and durability of the cars meant that Kimi was able to walk away from his accident with no more than a bruised thumb, and the mechanics did an excellent job to repair the car and allow Pedro to continue with the planned programme for the final two days of the test."

Fisichella and his Renault team continued to shine at the Spanish circuit, posting the second quickest time in the Michelin-shod R25 machine. Renault, who were originally scheduled to complete the test today, have decided to extend their programme and will also be in action tomorrow.

Local hero Fernando Alonso managed the sixth fastest time in the second Renault.

"We had a very good day today, with both cars running pretty much trouble-free," said Renault's chief test engineer Christian Silk. "The drivers both successfully completed race distances, completing very long runs and giving positive feedback about the performance over these long runs.

"In terms of laptime, the car looked very consistent and competitive during these longer stints. The afternoon was dedicated to tyre development for Melbourne, and our short performance runs provided some interesting avenues that we will pursue tomorrow over longer distances.

"Most reassuringly, we completed over 100 laps with both cars, and although there is still much to do before Melbourne, we are now making good progress in our preparations."

World Champions Ferrari finally raised their pace after setting some unimpressive times earlier this week, and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was third fastest, a tenth of a second off de la Rosa's pace. His teammate Michael Schumacher was fourth today in the second F2004M.

The Red Bull team continued with their intensive testing programme and had their three drivers at work at the wheel of the RB1. Austrian Christian Klien was the quickest of the Red Bull trio, outpacing both David Coulthard and Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Williams driver Nick Heidfeld was joined by Brazilian tester Antonio Pizzonia as both resumed the team's testing programme, focusing mainly on tyre work with the BMW-powered FW27. Heidfeld was the fastest of the two after 78 laps.

Ralf Schumacher drove the only Toyota in action, the German in the revised TF105 for the first time after teammate Jarno Trulli put the machine through its paces earlier this week. The Japanese squad continued with their unimpressive showing and finished near the bottom of the times.

The Jordan team were slowest once more at Barcelona, with Indian Narain Karthikeyan again lapping quicker than Portuguese teammate Tiago Monteiro.

"We tried a lot of new things with the car, especially tyre work for Bridgestone," said the Indian driver. "We also carried out some set-up changes and we are quite happy with the progress we have been making."

The test ends tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:14.542 112 2. Fisichella Renault (M) 1:14.608 121 3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:14.641 111 4. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:14.920 78 5. Klien Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:14.982 46 6. Alonso Renault (M) 1:15.021 104 7. Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:15.094 76 8. Heidfeld Williams-BMW (M) 1:15.578 78 9. Liuzzi Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:15.656 82 10. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:15.794 99 11. R.Schumacher Toyota (M) 1:16.281 82 12. Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:17.589 74 13. Monteiro Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:18.372 43 All Timing Unofficial

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