Fisichella tops times at Jerez

With overnight work at Renault's Enstone base allowing the team to return to using two cars following the rear wing dramas earlier in the week, Fisichella and Kovalainen were comfortably clear of the opposition on a damp but drying day.

Fisichella's best lap came right at the end of the afternoon running, while Kovalainen's best lap had come earlier in the day - indicating that the R26 is the current F1 benchmark.

Kimi Raikkonen finally managed to set some competitive times with the updated Mercedes-Benz engine as he went third quickest, but he was only able to run until lunchtime because he had to leave early to attend a function with McLaren this evening at the Royal Albert Hall.

McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa took over Raikkonen's car for the afternoon. Although the Spaniard was left impressed by the improved performance of the power-unit, it was not all good news after his running was curtailed by an engine failure in the final hour.

"It definitely has more power and we are definitely going in the right direction," de la Rosa told autosport.com. "But still we have a long way to go.

"However, at the next test finally we will have two new cars and we will be able to get more mileage on the engine and other parts."

Nick Heidfeld kept up BMW-Sauber's solid pre-season preparations with the fourth fastest time, despite another mechanical problem leaving him stopped out on the track just after lunch.

Tiago Monteiro finally unleashed some of the potential of Midland's new M16 to set the eighth best time, but behind him the day proved a difficult one for Williams.

Ninth fastest Alexander Wurz encountered a few mechanical gremlins that prevented him completing long runs, while Mark Webber's day was brought to an end after just 15 laps when he was pitched off the track with a gearbox problem. A lack of spare parts meant he could not get back out again, leaving him languishing at the bottom of the time sheets.

Scuderia Toro Rosso's Scott Speed got his first taste of the team's new STR01 car, stopping out on the track once.

Teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi stayed to watch proceedings after being encouraged by his try-out on Thursday.

Liuzzi told autosport.com: "Yeah, I have a good feeling about it. It is a good car, but we need to do some more mileage. I want to do a lot more in Bahrain next week."

Testing carries on tomorrow for McLaren and Renault, who are due to conduct some wet weather work for Michelin.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time      Laps
 1.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  1:17.763   75
 2.  Kovalainen    Renault             (M)  1:17.870   59
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:18.207   28
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:19.445   80
 5.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:19.488   49
 6.  Paffett       McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:19.912   91 *
 7.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:19.994   82
 8.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:20.112   78
 9.  Wurz          Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:20.314   79
10.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:20.500   79
11.  Albers        MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:21.854   63
12.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:23.494   15

* Hybrid car (restricted V10)