day three

Dani Sordo will take a tiny 0.8 second lead over Thierry Neuville into the final day of Rallye Deutschland; Mikko Hirvonen completes the provisional podium - 1m 26.8 seconds further back; Martin Prokop and Robert Kubica round out the top five; Jari-Matti Latvala and Mads Ostberg both went out in SS12...

Nick Heidfeld got his first go in the new BMW Sauber F1.09 on Friday, as the outfit moved into day three of its four-day exclusive test in Valencia.

1. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1min 11.000secs 92 laps* 2. Felipe Massa Ferrari-Ferrari 1min 11.662secs 81 laps* 3. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari-Ferrari 1min 11.850secs 108 laps*

With Michael Schumacher having taken most of the headlines on the opening two days of testing at Catalunya, it was left to Renault's Heikki Kovalainen to hit top spot in the former world champion's absence as the first post-season Formula 1 test drew to a close in Spain.

Honda's Rubens Barrichello topped the times on day three at Jerez on Friday, as testing at the Spanish circuit drew to a close for the week.

Renault's Fernando Alonso put the new R24 top today [Wednesday] at the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona, the Spaniard posting a best of 1 minute 14.665 seconds.

McLaren-Mercedes driver Pedro de la Rosa was quickest today [Wednesday] at Jerez, as the teams present finally managed to get in some dry running. The Spaniard completed 72 laps in total in the new 2004 McLaren - the MP4-19, his best a 1 minute 17.153 seconds.

Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer set the pace today [Thursday], at a rainy and wet Jerez. The Italian completed just 12 laps in total, his best a 1 minute 25.432 seconds, over half a second up on fellow Scuderia driver, Felipe Massa, who was second.