Renault rookie Heikki Kovalainen raised his spirits after a
disappointing race debut in Australia with the fastest time in
testing at Malaysia's Sepang circuit on Friday.
The Finn, who has replaced double world champion Fernando Alonso
at the Formula One team, lapped in an unofficial time of 1:35.757
after a qualifying simulation.
Friday was the final day of testing before next week's Malaysian
Grand Prix, the second round of the season, with heavy rain in the
afternoon.
"We worked hard throughout the week and we seem to be moving in
the right direction," Renault's chief test engineer Christian Silk
said in a statement.
"We made a number of changes overnight and they seemed to work
well out on track today. There is still a lot of progress to be
made but we are moving in the right direction," he added.
"Heikki seems comfortable at this track, he learned it quickly
and is in good shape going into next week's grand prix. That was
another important objective for this session, that we have achieved
successfully."
Kovalainen finished 10th in Melbourne after a performance that
his own team boss, Flavio Briatore, later described as
'rubbish'.
"Because his performance was so bad, it was not him," the
Italian declared. "Maybe it was his brother. We will try to get the
real Heikki for the next race."
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was second quickest on Friday with Briton
Anthony Davidson, still recovering from a back injury after a
collision in the Melbourne race, third on the timesheets in a Super
Aguri.
(China Daily via Reuters April 2, 2007)