A total of 3,500 kilometres, the equivalent of over half a season's mileage, is the distance covered to date by the new A1GP car. The latest series of tests for the car were in Spain with five days at the Guadix Circuit near Granada followed by three days at Jerez.

Ferrari test driver, Marc Gene, has now had his first taste of the car and his first impressions were: "It's an interesting car and I had a lot of fun. It's not an F1 car but it's not intended to be one; it will produce exciting racing, allows overtaking, and is an extreme drive."

However, the majority of the testing has been undertaken by Andrea Bertolini, while Patrick Friesacher has also been behind the wheel. Feedback has been good with them finding the car well balanced, the tyres have been working well and the gearshift and electronics have been reliable; all in all they have found it an extremely driveable car.

A1GP General Manager, Technical and Operations, John Wickham: "The car has now completed about 3,500 km testing, equivalent to about half a season's mileage, and is looking reliable. We have spent the majority of time working on the engine and control systems but there's also been work on the tyres and chassis so there has been no down time. There have been a number of small issues, which is to be expected from a completely new package, but there is nothing we can't resolve in the coming tests so we are happy with how things are progressing."

With the development programme moving forward positively, the car will be back out at Jerez in a couple of weeks before testing moves to France later this month. The teams are expected to get their first test in Silverstone in August and then a few weeks later at another UK location.