Rosberg shades Piquet

Driving for the Coloni squad, Keke's son Nico lapped in 1m31.720s, over a second clear of Piquet Jr's best effort of 1m32.943s for Arden.

"It's positive for the category that Nelson has tested with us," said Arden boss Christian Horner. "He put in respectable times based on a limited number of laps. He did two days less than Rosberg and clearly has a considerable amount of speed."

An impressive third fastest was former German F3 champion Toshihiro Kaneishi, who was driving for the new Ma-Con team. The Formula Nippon racer lapped in 1m33.288s.

Raffaele Giammaria was fourth fastest for Durango, who just pipped the second Ma-Con car of F3000 regular Tony Schmidt. English youngster James Rossiter was a solid sixth fastest for Arden, ahead of Dallara Nissan racer Norbert Siedler, who suffered some fuel pump problems today.

Yannick Schroeder rounded out the eight drivers on track in his Durango entry.

Nico Rosberg, Coloni, 1m31.720s
Nelson Piquet Jr, Arden, 1m32.943s
Toshihiro Kaneishi, Ma-Con, 1m33.288s
Raffaele Giammaria, Durango, 1m33.328s
Tony Schmidt, Ma-Con, 1m33.348s
James Rossiter, Arden, 1m33.367s
Norbert Siedler, Coloni, 1m33.490s
Yannick Schroeder, Durango, 1m33.930s