Barcelona, winter test – November 17th, 2008: Takuma Sato fastest 

Written by Nick on November 17th, 2008 at 7:14 pmLast Update: November 17th, 2008 at 7:15 pm

BMW Sauber F1.08, 2009 specsThe Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona in Spain, hosted today the first winter testing session ahead of the 2009 season. Most of the F1 teams evaluated last season’s single seaters adapted to next season’s new regulations such as completely revised aerodynamic packages, slick tyres and prototypes of their Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS).

The fastest driver on Day 1 was Takuma Sato at the wheel of a Toro Rosso. The Japanese completed 121 laps around the Spanish circuit, the fastest in 1:20.763. Second fastest was Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) ahead of Honda Racing official test and reserve driver Alexander Wurz. Fourth and fifth time for the two McLaren-Mercedes with Pedro de la Rosa ahead of Gary Paffett.

A remarkable eighth time (1:22.503, 82 laps) for World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb who, as a reward for his fifth WRC Championship title, run at the wheel of a Red Bull.

The teams will be back on track tomorrow for the second day of testing.

(Pos – Driver – Team – Lap Time – Laps)

  1. Sato – Toro Rosso – 1:20.763 – 121
  2. Buemi – Toro Rosso – 1:21.071 – 117
  3. Wurz – Honda – 1:21.198 – 77
  4. de la Rosa – McLaren-Mercedes – 1:21.417 – 65
  5. Paffett – McLaren-Mercedes – 1:21.956 – 78
  6. Badoer – Ferrari – 1:22.038 – 94
  7. Kubica – BMW Sauber – 1:22.341 – 56
  8. Loeb – Red Bull – 1:22.503 – 82
  9. Piquet jr – Renault – 1:22.560 – 80
  10. Klien – BMW Sauber – 1:22.883 – 53
  11. Hulkenberg – Williams – 1:23.467 – 116
  12. Liuzzi – Force India – 1:23.794 – 86
  13. Sutil – Force India – 1:23.832 – 88
  14. Gene – Ferrari – 1:24.117 – 32
  15. Senna – Honda – 1:24.343 – 39
  16. van der Garde – Renault – 1:24.908 – 32
  17. Di Grassi – Honda – 1:25.512 – 48

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