Zoom Klien tops the day's timesheet

The majority of the Formula One teams were present at Jerez on Wednesday for the second day of the in-season's final group test session. Things have now begun moving into full swing as the Spanish circuit bathed in warm and sunny conditions.

Development work is being done on aerodynamic packages and set-up configurations, with some teams trying out their Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems to be used next year.

Following yesterday's "Young Driver Day" in which three teams participated, the atmosphere was much busier today with eight cars on the track. Among the test and reserve drivers at work, Italian Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel was also accumulating laps, but he did so for his future team Red Bull Racing rather than for Toro Rosso.

Christian Klien was the quickest driver, speeding across the 4.423-kilometre circuit aboard the BMW Sauber F1.08 and recording a best time of 1:19.537.

He was followed by Sebastian Vettel at the controls of the Red Bull RB4, with a Toro Rosso STR3 'sister' car driven by Sebastien Buemi close behind: the young Swiss is also being evaluated for a possible seat with the team ahead of the 2009 season.

Gary Paffett handled the test duties for the McLaren team, setting the fourth-fastest time with the MP4-23, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi's Toyota TF108 and Luca di Grassi's Renault R28.

The Honda RA108 being looked after by Alex Wurz was 1.5 seconds off today's best time, but much further ahead of Kazuki Nakajima and the Williams FW30.

Testing continues at Jerez until Friday.

Jerez - 17/09/08: *
1. C.Klien – BMW Sauber F1.08 - 1:19.537 – 84 laps
2. S. Vettel - Red Bull Racing RB4 - 1:19.878 (+ 0.341) – 60 laps
3. S. Buemi - Toro Rosso STR3 - 1:20.209 (+ 0.672) – 88 laps
4. G. Paffett - McLaren MP4-23 - 1:20.602 (+ 1.065) – 52 laps
5. K. Kobayashi - Toyota TF108 - 1:20.759 (+ 1.222) - 94 laps
6. L. di Grassi - Renault R28 - 1:20.853 (+ 1.316) - 90 laps
7. A. Wurz - Honda RA108 - 1:21.123 (+ 1.586) - 71 laps
8. K. Nakajima - Williams FW30 - 1:23.171 (+ 3.634) – 61 laps

*Times courtesy of Renault

Daniel BASTIEN
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