Timo Glock finished top of the timesheets in his BMW Sauber on the first day of testing at Jerez. Glock completed 71 laps of the track with a best time of 1:20.606.
Tonio Liuzzi was second, a full six tenths of a second down on Glock s time, with Red Bull Racing s Sebastien Buemi third quickest. Franck Montagny came home in fourth in his Toyota, with McLaren s Pedro de la Rosa finishing with the fifth quickest time. Nelson Piquet Jr will be driving on all the days of the Jerez test for the Renault team. Despite losing some time because of a mechanical problem during the afternoon, he finished sixth quickest.
Honda debuted their new RA107 on the first day of testing. The new car is very different to the old with front and rear bargeboards and a host of aerodynamic improvements including the test of a McLaren-style bridge wing across the nose. The team are not expecting any dramatic improvements in the car for the final three races of the season rather, they are trying out the new concepts with the aim of understanding what needs to be done for next year s car. Rubens Barrichello was out on track for the Honda team and finished seventh fastest overall.
Kazuki Nakajima was in the Williams car as he tried out their new Fuji upgrade package. Luca Badoer completed the running, finishing with the slowest times of the day as he tested out the new 2008 electronics systems. Badoer also brought out the only red flag of the session when he stopped on-track mid-afternoon.
