Zoom Nakajima P1 with Williams in Spain

The lap times tumbled on the third and final day of the group test in Barcelona today as the winter sun bathed the 4.655km Grand Prix circuit for the first time this week after the now traditional damp start.

Underlying the potential pace of the Williams Toyota, Kazuki Nakajima topped the timesheets with a best lap of 1:22.153s, three-hundredths ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in the leading McLaren Mercedes who stopped on track with a mechanical issue today.

McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa was third fastest in the second MP4-23 while Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg were next up for Ferrari and Williams respectively. Indeed, less than a tenth of a second covered the top five - an encouraging sign ahead of the new season.

Mark Webber and David Coulthard recorded the sixth and seventh fastest times for Red Bull Renault ahead of Luca Badoer in the second Ferrari. Over at Renault and Fernando Alonso’s predictions that the team face another tough season may - or may not - be wide of the mark as the former champion lapped the Spanish circuit half a second shy of Nakajima and was ninth fastest. New team-mate Nelson Piquet took the 11th best time.

Timo Glock was tenth best in the Toyota with new test driver Kamui Kobayashi 12th fastest overall just ahead of Williams test driver Nico Hulkenberg.

Ferrari are scheduled to continue alone at the circuit tomorrow while the majority of the teams will be back at this circuit to start the final pre-season group test on Monday.

Barcelona* - 21/02/2008
1 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW30 - 1:22.153 (+ 0.000 ) - 32 laps
2 . H. Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 - 1:22.185 (+ 0.032 ) - 64 laps
3 . P. de la Rosa - McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 - 1:22.208 (+ 0.055 ) - 92 laps
4 . F. Massa - Ferrari F2008 - 1:22.213 (+ 0.060 ) - 96 laps
5 . N. Rosberg - Williams Toyota FW30 - 1:22.248 (+ 0.095 ) - 109 laps
6 . M. Webber - Red Bull Renault RB4 - 1:22.477 (+ 0.324 ) - 82 laps
7 . D. Coulthard - Red Bull Renault RB4 - 1:22.499 (+ 0.346 ) - 104 laps
8 . L. Badoer - Ferrari F2008 - 1:22.535 (+ 0.382 ) - 102 laps
9 . F. Alonso - Renault R28 - 1:22.657 (+ 0.504 ) - 61 laps
10 . T. Glock - Toyota TF108 - 1:22.901 (+ 0.748 ) - 110 laps
11 . N. Piquet - Renault R28 - 1:23.286 (+ 1.133 ) - 105 laps
12 . K. Kobayashi - Toyota TF108 - 1:24.132 (+ 1.979 ) - 56 laps
13 . N. Hulkenberg - Williams Toyota FW30 - 1:24.222 (+ 2.069 ) - 54 laps.

*Times courtesy of Circuit de Catalunya

Earl ALEXANDER
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