NEXT RACE - 12th October

Webber sets the pace at Jerez

Thursday 24th July 2008

The Red Bull family continued its domination of this week's Formula One test in Jerez.

After Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets over the first two days at the southern Spanish circuit, it was Mark Webber's turn to lead the way on Thursday.

The 31-year-old Australian, who will be partnered at Red Bull next season by Vettel, set a best lap time of 1:19.176 on slick tyres as teams prepare for a return to the rubber for 2009.

Webber edged out Renault's Nelson Piquet into second by 0.158secs, with the Brazilian, who finished runner-up in Sunday's German Grand Prix, also on slick tyres.

For the second successive day Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest on normal grooved tyres, finishing just over a quarter of a second behind Webber.

Force India test driver Vitantonio Liuzzi was fourth as the team continue to successfully trial their seamless shift gearbox this week in readiness to debut at next weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Pedro de la Rosa, who caused one of three red flags by running off at the chicane early on in his McLaren, was down in fifth, followed by Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima.

Timo Glock returned to action following his horrific shunt during Sunday's race at Hockenheim after being given the all clear by doctors.

"It was good to get back in the car and that was a positive day's testing for us," said Glock, who was eighth quickest of the 10 drivers on track.

"We pushed hard in the morning and were able to get through most of our plan for the day before lunch.

"The main thing is I've made a full recovery from my accident and I feel fine."

Honda's Rubens Barrichello, who had an engine problem late on, was down in ninth, with BMW again bringing up the rear with Nick Heidfeld 1.720secs adrift.

Times
01 M. Webber Red Bull 01:19.176 85 laps
02 N. Piquet jr. Renault 01:19.334 95 laps
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 01:19.434 84 laps
04 V. Liuzzi Force India F1 01:19.544 86 laps
05 P. de la Rosa McLaren 01:19.850 39 laps
06 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:20.029 77 laps
07 K. Nakajima Williams 01:20.097 88 laps
08 T. Glock Toyota 01:20.421 78 laps
09 R. Barrichello Honda 01:20.614 68 laps
10 N. Heidfeld BMW 01:20.896 97 laps

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