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Massa keeps Ferrari on top in Barcelona

The Ferrari team continued to show their strong form by topping the times for the third consecutive day in testing at the Barcelona circuit

While Kimi Raikkonen was quickest on the first two days, his teammate Felipe Massa replaced him both behind the wheel of the F2007 and on top of the times after another good session for the Italian squad.

Massa, who covered over 100 laps as Ferrari continued to work on new aerodynamic components, was three tenths of a second quicker than Red Bull's Mark Webber, second quickest in the RB3.

Jarno Trulli was third fastest for Toyota, with Renault's Heikki Kovalainen in fourth after a massive 121 laps with the R27 car.

Trulli enjoyed a productive day working with the Japanese car, claiming the new aerodynamic package tested in Barcelona is a step forward in performance.

"It was good to try out the new package, which has many new parts to help our performance," said Trulli. "It seems like a step forward but it's difficult to draw too many conclusions from today because the conditions have been a bit strange. The track was wet yesterday and it was gradually drying out during the morning.

"There has also been quite a lot of wind, which has a major effect on set-up around here. Still, the day has gone quite well, we put in a number of short and long runs without major problems and we've gathered a lot of data that will be useful for the Grand Prix weekend."

World champion Fernando Alonso, who on Tuesday completed just one lap to the disappointment of his fans, had a more productive session, working with McLaren's new, three-plane front wing, tested on track for the first time on Monday.

Alonso posted the fifth quickest time after 73 laps.

Williams were forced to call an end to their test a day early after Nico Rosberg wrecked his car in a high-speed crash early in the morning. The German driver was unhurt but was taken to hospital as a precaution.

"Nico went off on his first run and had a crash that resulted in heavy chassis damage," said technical director Sam Michael after the crash. "Nico's fine, however the damage cannot be repaired at the circuit so the test team is now returning to the factory."

The Spyker team also finished their day early after Christijan Albers was hit by mechanical problems in the afternoon. Like Williams, the Dutch squad will not be testing tomorrow.

"We started out quite well this morning. We were working on some race set ups and I was quite happy as we improved the car's handling," said Albers. "I did a lot of laps and I tried to push really hard before trying some new tyres in the afternoon, but then unfortunately we had a failure.

"It's a shame as it took our afternoon away, but I think we can be pleased with today - overall it was a good day's work."

The session took place under clear skies, although a heavy wind in the afternoon complicated matters for the drivers.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver       Team                     Time     Laps
 1.  Massa        Ferrari             (B)  1:21.506  103
 2.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:21.804   95
 3.  Trulli       Toyota              (B)  1:22.309  107
 4.  Kovalainen   Renault             (B)  1:22.378  121
 5.  Alonso       McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:22.579   73
 6.  Kubica       BMW Sauber          (B)  1:22.653   83
 7.  Button       Honda               (B)  1:22.765  114
 8.  Davidson     Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:23.027  112
 9.  Speed        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:23.713   96
10.  Albers       Spyker-Ferrari      (B)  1:24.870   63
11.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota     (B)  no time     2

All Timing Unofficial

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