Alonso leads the way again for McLaren

[davewilson]

Fernando Alonso's impressive pace continued today behind the wheel of the McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 as the Spaniard lapped less than a tenth off his best lap recorded yesterday.

Once again early running was limited but as the day wore on, the Spanish testing venue dried out allowing the 16 runners to bolt on dry weather Bridgestone tyres.

Alonso led the way with a best lap of 1:12.582s but the new McLaren signing did not enjoy the comfortable one second gap over his rivals as was the case on Tuesday.

The Renault duo of Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen were second and third fastest in the new R27, both lapping within two-tenths of the ultimate pace but having extended the test to include Friday, did not complete as many laps as many of its rivals.

Kimi Raikkonen also upped his pace in the new Ferrari, setting the fourth fastest time, while team-mate Felipe Massa joined the test in last year's 248 F1.

Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica were back on track for BMW Sauber with the fifth and seventh best times while Jarno Trulli was sixth best in the new Toyota.

Rubens Barrichello was ninth fastest in the Honda RA107 while test driver James Rossiter rounded out the top ten in interim Honda. 


Ralf Schumacher joined the test for Toyota, setting the 11th best time today ahead of Pedro de la Rosa while Kazuki Nakajima put in an impressive 116 laps in the interim Williams Toyota and was 13th fastest.

Takuma Sato was 14th fastest ahead of David Coulthard in the Red Bull Renault while Giedo Van Der Garde made his test debut for Super Aguri Honda, completing four timed laps.

Testing in Valencia continues on Thursday.

Valencia* - 31/01/2007
1 . F. Alonso - McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 - 1:12.582 (+ 0.000 ) - 86 laps
2 . G. Fisichella - Renault R27 - 1:12.737 (+ 0.155 ) - 37 laps
3 . H. Kovalainen - Renault R27 - 1:12.770 (+ 0.188 ) - 43 laps
4 . K. Raikkonen - Ferrari F2007 - 1:12.860 (+ 0.278 ) - 51 laps
5 . N. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber F1.07 - 1:13.012 (+ 0.430 ) - 50 laps
6 . J. Trulli - Toyota TF107 - 1:13.297 (+ 0.715 ) - 47 laps
7 . R. Kubica - BMW Sauber F1.07 - 1:13.310 (+ 0.728 ) - 42 laps
8 . F. Massa - Ferrari 248 F1 - 1:13.574 (+ 0.992 ) - 48 laps
9 . R. Barrichello - Honda RA107 - 1:13.690 (+ 1.108 ) - 72 laps
10 . J. Rossiter - Honda RA106 - 1:13.732 (+ 1.150 ) - 28 laps
11 . R. Schumacher - Toyota TF107 - 1:13.839 (+ 1.257 ) - 31 laps
12 . P. de la Rosa - McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 - 1:14.286 (+ 1.704 ) - 41 laps
13 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW28 B - 1:14.401 (+ 1.819 ) - 116 laps
14 . T. Sato - Super Aguri Honda RA106 - 1:14.812 (+ 2.230 ) - 36 laps
15 . D. Coulthard - Red Bull Renault RB3 - 1:15.939 (+ 3.357 ) - 26 laps
16 . G. Van Der Garde - Super Aguri Honda RA106 - 1:26.348 (+ 13.766 ) - 4 laps.

The Stig