CHENNAI: Force India completed their first test session of the 2008 Formula One season at Jerez, Spain, on Wednesday on a satisfactory note with young Adrian Sutil posting the 10th quickest time of one minute, 21.705 seconds in conditions that were wet to begin with and then dry.
According to information reaching here, the spotlight, however, was on Timo Glock making his debut for the hard-pressed Toyota team. The 2007 GP2 champion Glock clocked 1:19.779 to top the charts, ahead of Lewis Hamilton of McLaren (1:20.099) and former double World champion Fernando Alonso of Renault (1:20.363).
Ferrari's newly crowned world champion Kimi Raikkonen was eighth quickest at 1:20.646, behind Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso, 1:20.407), Felipe Massa (Ferrari, 1:20.500), Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren, 1:20.535) and Kaumui Kobayashi (Toyota, 1:20.577).
Most drivers were still coming to grips with the new regulations that, among others, prohibit traction control. Given the wet conditions Wednesday morning, a few drivers, notably Hamilton, had off-track excursions without the benefit of traction control that otherwise would have dramatically reduced wheel-spin.
Commenting on his performance, Sutil, who completed 71 laps, said: "With the rain, it was not the best conditions at the start but at least this morning we did a lot of running in the wet, which was helpful as we tried some different settings.
"We still have quite a lot of work to do, but in the end, I was quite happy, particularly as towards the mid afternoon we could do some dry running, which I needed as it's a new circuit for me. I had just a few laps three or four years ago in Formula 3! It's not that difficult to learn but there are still some tricky sections and even when it dried there were some damp parts, but I was happy to be back in the car."
The teams now head to Valencia for the next three-day test scheduled Jan 22-24.
