Jerez Test Day Three: Kubica Sends BMW To The Top

Jerez Test Day Three: Kubica Sends BMW To The Top

Robert Kubica - Testing In December 2007The third and penultimate day of testing commenced earlier this morning at Jerez and by sunset, BMW’s Robert Kubica had the fastest lap. Sharing the circuit with both Schumachers, Robert managed 87 laps and his team mate Nick Heidfeld completed the same amount and finished in tenth. Lewis Hamilton followed Kubica closely in second but Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was only 0.002s shy of the McLaren driver. Mark Webber, Timo Glock and Pedro De La Rosa round out the top six.

Michael Schumacher participated in the test today continuing his work on the handling of the car without electronic driver aids. Michael could only set the eighth fastest time and restricted his running to just 67 laps. Honda were again only present with one car, controlled by Rubens Barrichello and ending up just behind former team mate Schumacher Snr in the tables. Super Aguri fielded two cars with Luca Filippi getting the better of full-time driver Takuma Sato. STR pilots Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais lapped Jerez at mid-field pace, but did remain ahead of Jarno Trulli’s Toyota, David Coulthard’s Red Bull and Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams.

And finally, Force India once again sent two drivers out in their quest to find a good line up for next season. Today was the chance for third-highest paid driver Ralf Schumacher to show his stuff, and STR refugee Vitantonio Liuzzi drove the second ‘India. Following yesterdays awesome display where fellow ‘India hopeful Fisichella got himself into 9th place, hopes were understandably high for today. However, the cars hogged the bottom row of the tables, Liuzzi managing to get within 0.2s of Sato’s Aguri. Ralf Schumacher didn’t really himself any favours, following Fisichella’s performance yesterday. Schumacher Jr went last, almost 0.7s adrift of Liuzzi. Let’s just say, if I were Vijay Mallya, I know who I’d be hiring.

1. Robert Kubica BMW 1m19.157s Slicks
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m19.331s Grooved
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m19.333s Grooved
4. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1m19.605s Slicks
5. Timo Glock Toyota 1m19.687s Slicks
6. Pedro De La Rosa McLaren 1m19.787s Slicks
7. Nelson Piquet Jr Renault 1m19.834s Slicks
8. Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1m19.885s Slicks
9. Rubens Barrichello Honda 1m19.905s Grooved
10. Nick Heidfeld BMW 1m20.125s Grooved
11. Nico Rosberg Williams 1m20.301s Grooved
12. Sebastian Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m20.339s Grooved
13. Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m20.507s Grooved
14. Jarno Trulli Toyota 1m20.775s Grooved
15. Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1m20.802s Grooved
16. Luca Filippi Super Aguri 1m20.915s Grooved
17. David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1m21.055s Grooved
18. Takuma Sato Super Aguri 1m21.093s Slicks
19. Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India 1m21.194s Grooved
20. Ralf Schumacher Force India 1m22.853s Grooved

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