Toyota tester Ricardo Zonta topped the timesheets on the third day of testing at Jerez, though this was the Japanese team's first day of running.

The Brazilian, at the wheel of a TF104B, completed 112 laps on his way to posting a best time of 1:15.708, only marginally slower than this year's best time (Jenson Button).

Ricardo was joined by Ralf Schumacher, who was called back to Europe following last week's (relatively) disappointing performance in Melbourne. With Olivier Panis sidelined by illness, Ralf, at the wheel of a TF105, was the only race driver on duty.

After yesterday's engine problem, today was far better for McLaren's Alexander Wurz. The Austrian, at the wheel of the MP4-19B, completed the most laps (149).

Franck Montagny was the quicker of the two Renault drivers on duty. The team completed limited running during the morning: the circuit was in poor condition owing to construction work inside the circuit perimeter, which left the track surface very dusty. Both the Frenchman and teammate Heikki Kovalainen had to acclimatise themselves to the R25 and R24 respectively.

During the afternoon, both drivers' programmes focused on tyre evaluation, which was completed successfully.

"We made a good start to our test in Jerez," said Christian Silk "As soon as the circuit conditions had improved, our priority was to complete as much running as possible concentrating on tyre evaluation. Both drivers completed their programmes, and gained positive results which we will pursue tomorrow."

Once again, Marc Gene was on duty for Ferrari, though today he was joined by Luca Badoer. The Italian drove the new F2005, its first test alongside rival teams. Luca was the quicker of the two drivers, however, his best lap was 2.4s off the pace.

Enrique Bernoldi and Anthony Davidson were in action for BAR, the Brackley duo continuing the programme begun yesterday, with the Englishman in the 007 and the Brazilian in the hybrid 2004 car. The team is known to be concerned at the lack of grip in Melbourne and is therefore evaluating various aerodynamic solutions.

In an attempt to create the optimum conditions for the evaluations, Davidson spends much of his time running close behind Bernoldi. Between them the BAR duo completed 244 laps, while their best laps were only 0.014s apart.

Propping up the timesheets was WilliamsF1's Antonio Pizzonia, the Brazilian finishing almost 3s off the pace.

"Our main focus today was evaluating our cooling specification for the particular conditions expected in Malaysia the weekend after next," explained test team manager, Tim Newton, "as well as looking at braking set-up in preparation for Bahrain and Imola, which are demanding braking tracks, and finally, testing tyre compounds."

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