Rubens Barrichello of Williams set the fastest time despite more poor weather hampering teams’ Formula One preparations on Thursday.
Barrichello’s time of 1 minute, 27.145 seconds came during one of the few dry moments at the Jerez Circuit, as rain continued to spoil track conditions at the preseason’s penultimate test.
Vitaly Petrov of Renault was nearly seven-tenths of a second behind in second ahead, while Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg of Mercedes GP and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa rounded out the top five.
Virgin Racing had its most productive day yet as Timo Glock managed 72 laps. Fellow newcomer Lotus had problems as Heikki Kovalainen lost his front wing after running off the track into a tire wall.
