Trulli sets quickest lap time at Barcelona

Jarno Trulli turned the pre-season form-book on its head with the quickest lap set at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya this winter.

The Toyotas have been off the pace since they unveiled their new car for the forthcoming season, the TF108, in Cologne seven weeks ago.

But on the final day of official testing before the opening grand prix of the year in Australia on March 16, veteran Trulli blitzed the 4.655km track in a time of one minute 20.801 seconds.

There have been nine days of testing in Barcelona this month, and Trulli was delighted with his time which was the best by over 0.4secs.

“That was another positive day,” remarked Trulli, whose time was likely to have been sparked by a qualifying set-up on the car.

“Even though this is only a test, it’s nice to see the mechanics and the guys smiling because today’s times are good motivation. There is still room for improvement, but this shows the team has done a good job over the winter tests.

“Of course, we won’t know the real running order until Melbourne, but I’m quite confident for the season. It’s definitely looking much better than last year, so I’m happy for the team.”

It was not all good news for Toyota as Timo Glock caused one of seven red flags on the day when he suffered a minor accident early in the afternoon and eventually finished 11th quickest.

On a day of surprises, Lewis Hamilton – who had been quickest the previous two days in his McLaren – had to settle for the 10th fastest time, over 1.2secs down on Trulli.

Red Bull Racing’s David Coulthard, who missed yesterday’s session after tweaking a nerve in his neck on Monday, was second quickest followed by another strong showing from Nico Rosberg for Williams.

Hamilton’s team-mate Heikki Kovalainen and the second Red Bull of Mark Webber were fourth and fifth, with the Renaults of Nelson Piquet and Fernando Alonso sixth and seventh.

Double world-champion Alonso completed the most laps on the day of 128, but was still 0.653secs adrift of Trulli.

Also ahead of Hamilton was Kazuki Nakajima in his Williams and the Ferrari of reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen, with the Hondas of Jenson Button and Alexander Wurz at the back of the 19-man field.