Renault set the pace on the third day of testing at Valencia, with Heikki Kovalainen topping the timesheets, but McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya pushed him all the way, finishing just 0.047s off the pace.

Kovalainen conducted initial selections of tyres destined for use at the Australian Grand Prix in early April, while Giancarlo Fisichella ran a planned race distance in the morning followed by a set-up and tyre evaluation programme.

The Italian's morning programme was interrupted by a hydraulic leak at the beginning of this third 'stint', around lunchtime, but he was back on track two hours later to continue.

"This was one of our best days of the winter," said test team manager, Christian Silk. "We did more than 1000 km with only minor problems on both cars, and the R26 seems very competitive.

"Heikki completed his programme of tyre and brake testing without any problems, and we found some very interesting directions with the Michelin tyres. As for Giancarlo, his race distance was interrupted by a minor hydraulic problem, but he ran trouble-free this afternoon as he worked on set-up and tyre development."

The programme for both McLaren drivers focused on specific set-up work and component proving for the first three races of the 2006 Formula One season, in Bahrain, Malaysia and Australia. Kimi Raikkonen and Montoya both spent the day completing short runs.

Juan Pablo put in the second fastest time of the day, a 1:10.665, over the course of 50 laps, while teammate Kimi completed 71 laps of the Spanish track and set a quickest time of 1:11.174, which put him in fifth position on the timesheets.

Pedro de la Rosa will return to the test tomorrow to run alongside Kimi in the second MP4-21, for the final day of this weeks test.

Yesterday's pace-setter, Nico Rosberg, could only manage fourth today, who was side-lined during the day with a mechanical problem. The German was partnered by Alexander Wurz.

"Despite strong winds which lasted for most of the day, we still managed to continue putting mileage on the engine and gearbox," said Sam Michael. "We also completed some tyre testing, as well as brake and general set-up work."

"Nico successfully track tested the CA2006 Series 2 engine at this week's test," added Simon Corbyn, Cosworth's Head of F1 Race Engineering. "Results were very encouraging, both in terms of on-track performance and engine mileage achieved. There are now only two tests left prior to the opening round in Bahrain and the race engines are already in build back in Northampton. It is therefore vital to make the best use of the remaining track time to approve the latest components prior to going racing. Both cars will run Series 2 engines at the Barcelona next week."

David Coulthard was Red Bull's sole representative at the test today, having his first run in RBR2 chassis 02.

The Scotsman continued working on set-up, control systems and also did a fair amount of tyre evaluation.

"Actually, it was difficult to evaluate anything much in the morning, as there were very strong winds blowing across the circuit," said Technical Director, Mark Smith. "The car ran reliably throughout and Coulthard is back behind the wheel tomorrow."

Midland had Christijan Albers and Adrian Sutil on duty, the German, at the wheel of the EJ15B, making his F1 debut.