Ricciardo ends Jerez test on top

The Australian completed 77 laps of the Spanish circuit and set the pace in a time of 1m17.418s.

It was not all plain sailing for the British F3 champion though, as his day's work was ended early when a large plume of smoke appeared from the back of his car and he stopped at the exit of the chicane, bringing the session to a halt.

Britain's Paul di Resta continued his impressive week of testing with the second quickest time for Force India. He also had his problems during his half-day of running.

A spin into the gravel at the chicane early in the afternoon brought the red flags out, as did an incident 90 minutes later when his car cut out at the same point while the DTM driver was on an out-lap.

Wednesday pace-setter Gary Paffett and Mike Conway were third and fourth quickest for McLaren and Brawn respectively. Both had half a day behind the wheel.

Nico Hulkenberg's Williams and Bertrand Baguette's Sauber were behind them, the Belgian driver improving his best time on a number of occasions in the final hour.

Brit Oliver Turvey was an impressive third quickest in the morning running with McLaren, but was pushed down the order to seventh by the end of the day as conditions improved.

Brawn's Marcus Ericsson, Renault's Lucas di Grassi and Force India's JR Hildebrand completed the top 10, although the American's two runs on his best sets of tyres were spoiled by issues with the car's electronics.

Ferrari gave maiden runs to the top three finishers in this year's Italian F3 Championship. Mexican Pablo Sanchez, the last to venture onto the circuit, was the fastest of them in 11th place. The first out, Daniel Zampieri, was also the first to bring out the red flags as he spun into the gravel at the chicane early on.

Toro Rosso made a late decision to allow Mirko Bortolotti to drive in the morning before he handed the car over to Brendon Hartley.

Today's times:

Pos Driver       Team            Time               Laps
 1. Ricciardo    Red Bull        1m17.418s            77
 2. Di Resta     Force India     1m18.736s  + 1.318s  53
 3. Paffett      McLaren         1m18.746s  + 1.328s  59
 4. Conway       Brawn           1m19.096s  + 1.678s  77
 5. Hulkenberg   Williams        1m19.226s  + 1.808s 106
 6. Baguette     Sauber          1m19.356s  + 1.938s  70
 7. Turvey       McLaren         1m19.358s  + 1.940s  32
 8. Ericsson     Brawn           1m19.382s  + 1.964s  49
 9. Di Grassi    Renault         1m19.602s  + 2.184s 123
10. Hildebrand   Force India     1m19.873s  + 2.455s  41
11. Sanchez      Ferrari         1m21.147s  + 3.650s  39
12. Zampieri     Ferrari         1m21.279s  + 3.861s  42
12. Zipoli       Ferrari         1m21.725s  + 4.307s  41
13. Hartley      Toro Rosso      1m22.493s  + 5.075s  50
15. Bortolotti   Toro Rosso      1m23.271s  + 5.853s  34
16. Tung         Renault         1m32.477s  + 15.059s  4

All Timing Unofficial