Valencia, day 3: Boost for McLaren

David Coulthard set a new track record at Valencia today (Thursday) to end the third day of pre-Austrian GP testing on a high. Coulthard recorded a best lap of 1m10.813s around the Spanish track, 1.5 seconds quicker than Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya, who was second in the times

Coulthard's blistering lap came in the morning session, as did all the best times. Rain started falling just after lunch and got heavier as the afternoon wore on. McLaren was one of just a few teams to take advantage of the conditions and do some wet testing. In contrast, Montoya did just a handful of laps on wets.

Jarno Trulli was third in the times, but the Renault driver did not run at all in the afternoon as the team had no wet programme to work to. The same applied to Jaguar drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Eddie Irvine, who ran Cosworth's revised engine once again.

Nick Heidfeld continued Felipe Massa's set-up assessment for the A1-Ring in the dry and traction control and cooling work in the wet. Unlike Massa the German did not try a qualifying run and he ended the day back in sixth.

David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes M 1m10.813 62
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m12.317s 67
Jarno Trulli Renault M 1m12.411s 43
Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes M 1m12.658s 61
Fernando Alonso Renault M 1m12.831s 58
Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas B 1m13.140s 96
Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar M 1m134.225s 31
Eddie Irvine Jaguar M 1m14.281s 42

M = Michelin
B = Bridgestone