Jerez test - day one: 7 December.

Outgoing Renault F1 third driver, Franck Montagny topped the times Wednesday at Jerez, as the Spanish circuit kicked off part of a marathon F1 test session which will run until Sunday December 18.

Montagny completed over 100 laps in the R25, which is running with a V10 engine supposedly detuned to simulate the power out-put of a V8. The Frenchman's best lap was a 1 minute 19.468 seconds, two tenths up on Marc Gene, who was next quickest for Ferrari and around four tenths up on Heikki Kovalainen, who was third in the sister R25.

Jerez test - day one: 7 December.

Outgoing Renault F1 third driver, Franck Montagny topped the times Wednesday at Jerez, as the Spanish circuit kicked off part of a marathon F1 test session which will run until Sunday December 18.

Montagny completed over 100 laps in the R25, which is running with a V10 engine supposedly detuned to simulate the power out-put of a V8. The Frenchman's best lap was a 1 minute 19.468 seconds, two tenths up on Marc Gene, who was next quickest for Ferrari and around four tenths up on Heikki Kovalainen, who was third in the sister R25.

Kovalainen, who will replace Montagny as Renault's official third driver next season, managed 118 laps, the most of any one driver on track. His best was a 1m 19.809s.

Gene was the best of the V8 runners in second, the Spaniard enjoying a solid day in his Ferrari F2004 M. He managed 83 laps, while carrying out reliability testing with the Scuderia's new power-plant in conjunction with Shell.

Fellow Ferrari test driver, Luca Badoer had a less fruitful day in an F2005 fitted with an engine to comply with the 2006 technical regulations. He worked mainly on Bridgestone tyre testing but his session ended early, after just 39 laps, when he went off this morning braking into the last corner. Although he was unharmed he took no further part in the day's proceedings and was consequently only eleventh on the timesheets. The team later blamed a mechanical failure on the right front corner of the car for the incident.

Anthony Davidson was fourth for Honda, as the Brackley based squad introduced a second 'Concept' car. Davidson had a good day working on set-up work for the chassis and the engine, before conducting a tyre evaluation programme. James Rossiter was in the second Honda, but way down the timesheets in 12th, over half a second slower. He completed the shakedown of the brand new 'Concept' car, before then focusing on aero and tyre work.

Narain Karthikeyan was fractionally slower than Davidson on his first outing for Williams, fifth overall. The former Jordan/Midland driver was also quicker than Nico Rosberg in the sister FW27, some four tenths better.

"Today in Jerez, Nico concentrated on stabilised temperature runs, mechanical and aero set-ups," explained Williams technical director, Sam Michael. "It was another productive day during which we gained valuable mileage with the mechanical components on the interim FW27C.

"Narain also drove for us, spending some time familiarising himself with the car, carrying out long runs, systems checks and calibration work."

Further down the pack, Pedro de la Rosa rounded out the top six for McLaren-Mercedes, the Spaniard assisted on track by DTM champion, Gary Paffett, who has been called upon to again assist the Woking based squad. Between them they managed over 150 laps in the interim MP4-20B cars, de la Rosa around half a second up on Paffett, who was tenth quickest. Like last week in Barcelona, McLaren concentrated on the continued development and assessment of the Mercedes-Benz V8 engine and Michelin's tyres. Neither driver had any issues.

Ralf Schumacher meanwhile came in seventh in the new Toyota TF106, with Christian Klien eighth in his Red Bull-Cosworth.

Outside of the top ten, Rossiter was ahead of Ryan Briscoe, who has been recalled by Toyota and who was 13th quickest, while Midland MF1 representatives, Thomas Biagi and Christijan Albers were 14th and 15th, the only other runners on track. Biagi was getting his first proper test in an F1 car and he spent the time familiarising himself with the EJ15B, before later working on electronic software development and Bridgestone tyre testing.

"I am happy with the result of this test," he noted. "For the first time in my career, I have done a lot of kilometres in a F1 car. I was working step by step with the team and all the engineers helped me understand the car. We have tried different settings on traction control for instance, which is something new for me. I think my performance today was quite good but for sure, if I had been running tomorrow, I would have improved my lap times still further."

Albers was also busy in the sister Midland car, he was running at the wheel of an interim EJ15B fitted with a V8. He conducted all the necessary system checks, providing the Silverstone based team with some very useful data.

"I think it was a reasonable day but we still have a lot of work to do," stated the former Minardi driver. "It is nice to get to know the team and work together. We have been trying to get the car to suit my driving style, however, this is not easy and it takes time. We had some little issues but I think this is normal with a new engine and a new package. I am quite happy and hopefully it will get much better by the end of the week."

MF1 Racing will now give Tiago Monteiro and Belgian driver Jeffrey van Hooydonk a run on Thursday, when testing continues. BMW Sauber will also join proceedings bringing the total number of teams in action to nine.

Leading times (7 December) - Jerez:

1. Franck Montagny Renault-Renault* 1m 19.468s 103 laps M
2. Marc Gene Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 19.687s 83 laps B
3. Heikki Kovalainen Renault-Renault* 1m 19.809s 118 laps M
4. Anthony Davidson Honda-Honda 1m 20.144s 103 laps M
5. Narain Karthikeyan Williams-Cosworth 1m 20.291s 49 laps B
6. Pedro de la Rosa Mclaren-Mercedes 1m 20.369s 102 laps M
7. Ralf Schumacher Toyota-Toyota 1m 20.454s 65 laps B
8. Christian Klien Red Bull-Cosworth* 1m 20.581s 70 laps M
9. Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1m 20.644s 62 laps B
10. Gary Paffet McLaren-Mercedes 1m 20.760s 66 laps M
11. Luca Badoer Ferrari-Ferrari* 1m 20.845s 39 laps B
12. James Rossiter Honda-Honda 1m 20.978s 81 laps M
13. Ryan Briscoe Toyota-Toyota 1m 21.211s 78 laps B
14. Thomas Biagi MF1-Toyota* 1m 21.878s 90 laps B
15. Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1m 23.203s 52 laps B

[M denotes Michelin tyres / B denotes Bridgestone tyres / * denotes V10 engine.]

Track conditions: Clear and sunny.

All times unofficial - courtesy of the Circuito de Jerez website.

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