Monday, March 9, 2009

Heidfeld quickest as Jerez test ends

Heidfeld quickest as Jerez test ends

Nick Heidfeld posted the fastest time on the final day of testing at the Jerez circuit, where world champion Lewis Hamilton was involved in a low-speed crash.

BMW Sauber driver Heidfeld was the busiest man on track today, with 123 laps covered despite the circuit being hit by rain in the morning and by gusts of wind most of the day.

Heidfeld's best time of 1:20.052 put him over three tenths of a second ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who also had a productive day in the Ferrari with 112 laps covered.

Hamilton was third quickest, but over a second off Heidfeld's pace, the Briton completing just 58 laps. The world champion lost control of his car due to a sudden gust of wind and ended up crashing backwards and damaging his McLaren's rear wing.

Red Bull's Mark Webber and Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima didn't complete many laps today either on their way to the fourth and fifth fastest times of the day respectively.

Jarno Trulli finished at the bottom of the times for Toyota after managing only 38 laps. The Italian's day came to an early finish after he suffered some damage to his front wing when running over the kerbs.

"That was a short day for us," said Trulli. "We lost the morning to the weather but in the afternoon we had a chance to try out the 2010 Bridgestone slick tyres. The conditions remained difficult because the wind was still strong.

"On one run I picked up some damage to the front wing after running over kerbs. Still, we made it through a number of runs and collected data for the future. As for this season, this test shows that things are going well for us so we can be confident."

Teams will be back in testing action next week in Barcelona.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:20.052 123 2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:20.404 112 3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:21.272 58 4. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:22.219 47 5. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:22.226 54 6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:23.119 38 All Timing Unofficial

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