Sutil comes up with fifth best lap time

Force India driver Adrian Sutil made an impressive start with the new Mercedes engine-driven VJM02 car, finishing fifth in test drive with best lap time of 1 min 20:621 at the Jerez de La Frontera circuit here.

Sutil managed 63 laps and was within one seconds of Toyota's Timo Glock who completed 141 laps with quickest lap time of 1:19.814 among eight drivers who tested on the third day yesterday.

The young German was lucky to have tested on a dry track while his more experienced team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella had to counter wet conditions for the two consecutive days.

"I think today was a good day," said Sutil. "It was important to get into the car again and to get confident. The car was OK. There is definitely potential, and we were able to do more mileage and find some reliability in the afternoon.

"In the morning we had a little problem but we could fix it over lunch and start to do our programme. The tyres dominate a lot and the different compounds react differently. You have to find a good set up and get them to work and that is where we are concentrated now.

"We had some instability on the rear and oversteer, but we will see tomorrow. We are at least more reliable and can try and get some real mileage on the car now." Ferrari driver Felipe Massa covered a massive 134 laps on his way to the second fastest time of the day, over four tenths of a second behind Glock, with 1:20.238.

Renault's Fernando Alonso was the busiest man on track, completing 152 laps and best lap time of 1:20.296. McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen (1:20.535) posted the fourth quickest time ahead of Sutil.