Jerez day three - Super Aguri outpace Renault 19 Jan 2007
Super Aguri race driver Anthony Davidson was the quickest runner in testing at Jerez on Thursday. Davidson, using the Japanese team's interim car, lapped the Spanish circuit in 1m 19.628s - over one-tenth faster than Giancarlo Fisichella in Renault’s 2007 car, the R27.
Despite cool temperatures, Davidson completed 145 laps as he tested Bridgestone’s Potenza tyres. Shorter, low-fuel runs in the morning were gradually extended during the afternoon, as winter sunshine improved track temperature. Takuma Sato will conclude the team’s test programme on Friday.
After completing reliability checks on Wednesday in the R27, Fisichella began set-up work on the Renault team’s 2007 machine. Despite a brief stoppage early on in the session, the Italian completed his scheduled programme and began to carry out some initial tyre evaluations.
Team mate Heikki Kovalainen, who ended the session the slowest driver of the day, was not so lucky in the second R27. After completing just two laps in the morning, Kovalainen returned his car, which was suffering from electrical problems, to the garage. Only managing to return to the track in the afternoon, the Finn had time to complete just two-thirds of a race simulation.
"It was a slightly frustrating day for me because we didn't really start our work properly until this afternoon, and after that our focus was to put miles on the car,” explained Kovalainen. “So not a perfect day for me, but at this stage, the important thing is to get a feel for the handling, and make sure the package is reliable - it's not about setting the stopwatch on fire. We had a good end to the day with some longer runs, so hopefully we can carry on our momentum tomorrow in order to catch up on the programme."
Williams race driver Nico Rosberg, who joined the test on Thursday after replacing team tester Kazuki Nakajima, ended the session third quickest. Rosberg completed 75 laps in the team’s interim car, while carrying out traction control comparisons and software tests.
With Williams having completed their programme for the week, Super Aguri and Renault will be the only teams testing in Jerez on Friday.
Unofficial Thursday times from Jerez:
1. Anthony Davidson, Super Aguri, 1:19.628
2. Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault, 1:19.754
3. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 1:20.049
4. Heikki Kovalainen, Renault, 1:21.026
