Jerez test - day three: 14 December.

Pedro de la Rosa posted the quickest time on day three of testing at Jerez, as all the Formula One teams bar Spyker continued with preparations for the 2007 season.

de la Rosa posted a quickest time of 1min 19.107secs during the course of day three of the session (the second day for everyone other than Toyota) as the team continued to once again work on getting the maximum from the new Bridgestone tyres that will be used in 2007. Along with team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who took over from Gary Paffett in the second car, de la Rosa also worked through a programme focused on suspension development, with the young Briton ending the day fourth quickest.

Between the two McLaren drivers, Jarno Trulli and James Rossiter ended the day second and third on the timesheets. For Toyota driver Trulli, on his final day of testing this week, the day passed without problems and had enabled the Toyota team to collect more valuable data ahead of the new campaign.

"It has been a very productive test and we have been able to do a lot of laps without any real trouble," the Italian said. "We now understand a lot more about our car and these tyres, the good points and the not so good points. Over the winter we will work hard to find a good package and learn how to get the best out of these tyres. We have a lot of work to do before the start of the season but the tests here and at Barcelona have helped us. We will now spend the winter looking at the data and trying to find a good set-up so we can have a good season in 2007."

Behind British pair Rossiter and Hamilton, Christian Klien was fifth fastest in the second Honda from Ferrari's Felipe Massa. Massa and team-mate Luca Badoer - who finished the day right behind the Brazilian on the timesheets - continued with the programme started yesterday that included development of the new gearbox and mechanical components, adapting the car to the new tyres and engine reliability.

Having topped the times on Wednesday, Finn Heikki Kovalainen had to be content with the eighth fastest time despite a trouble-free day of testing where he focused on tyre testing and set-up changes in order to improve the behaviour of his R26. He completed over 100 laps and was just ahead of Nick Heidfeld, the German bringing his session to an end with a series of long runs in the BMW Sauber.

Giancarlo Fisichella rounded out the top ten, although a gearbox issue meant he was unable to take to the track before mid-day. However, he still managed to complete just short of 70 laps on an otherwise solid day of running for the regie

"It was an interesting day once again," chief test engineer Christian Silk said. "Heikki was able to complete his programme without any problem but Giancarlo had some delays owing to the small incident that happened on his car. Finally everything went well, we recorded some good data especially regarding the tyres. We are on schedule, we know where we are. Tomorrow is our last day of testing this year and we will push hard again, we have to take benefit from each day we have on track."

Robert Kubica took over from Sebastien Vettel in the second BMW Sauber and the Pole posted the eleventh fastest time ahead of Japanese youngster Kohei Hirate, who received an unexpected call-up to return to the track when Olivier Panis was forced to end his final F1 test early with a cold.

"It was good to have a chance to drive in Formula One again," Hirate said. "I was working on the tyres and it was good to see the difference between the set-ups because I started with Olivier's set-up and I was able to compare it with what I did on Tuesday. I went back to the set-up I had and, for me, the car felt better. I have been here for three days and I have learnt quite a lot of things. I am very happy to have had the chance to be with the team and I hope to come back again soon."

Fellow Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima continued to wrack up mileage in the Williams Toyota with the team happy with his feedback despite a lack of knowledge of F1 machinery while Takuma Sato was 14th in the interim Super Aguri from Red Bull's Michael Ammermuller.

Panis ended his time in F1 with the 16th quickest time while Toro Rosso again ended the day towards the bottom of the timesheets. However, Champ Car World Series title holder Sebastien Bourdais improved his best time by more than a second compared to Wednesday and was only fractions of a second behind race drivers Tonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed.

Testing continues tomorrow.

Leading times (December 14) - Jerez:

1. Pedro de la RosaMcLaren-Mercedes1min 19.107secs75 laps
2. Jarno TrulliToyota-Toyota1min 19.470secs93 laps
3. James RossiterHonda-Honda1min 19.548secs117 laps
4. Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1min 19.587secs76 laps
5. Christian KlienHonda-Honda1min 19.702secs109 laps
6. Felipe MassaFerrari-Ferrari1min 19.728secs80 laps
7. Luca BadoerFerrari-Ferrari1min 19.761secs75 laps
8. Heikki KovalainenRenault-Renault1min 19.810secs110 laps
9. Nick HeidfeldBMW Sauber-BMW1min 19.940secs120 laps
10. Giancarlo FisichellaRenault-Renault1min 20.068secs69 laps
11. Robert KubicaBMW Sauber-BMW1min 20.187secs99 laps
12. Kohei HirateToyota-Toyota1min 20.423secs32 laps
13. Kazuki NakajimaWilliams-Toyota1min 20.443secs97 laps
14. Takuma SatoSuper Aguri-Honda1min 20.726secs108 laps
15. Michael AmmermullerRed Bull-Ferrari1min 20.737secs59 laps
16. Olivier PanisToyota-Toyota1min 21.269secs25 laps
17. Vitantonio LiuzziToro Rosso-Cosworth1min 21.506secs42 laps
18. Scott SpeedToro Rosso-Cosworth1min 21.514secs22 laps
19. Sebastien BourdaisToro Rosso-Cosworth1min 21.520secs79 laps

Weather/Track conditions: Cold to start with, sunny and warm during the afternoon

All times unofficial - courtesy of Renault