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Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) set the marker on the opening day of running for the Gran Premio de Espana Telefonica by using Bridgestone’s hard compound Potenza tyre to set the day’s fastest lap time at the 4.66 km Circuit de Catalunya for the fourth round of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Raikkonen topped the timesheets in both 90-minute sessions today, with the day’s fastest time of 1min 20.649secs set in the morning practice. He was five hundredths of a second quicker than teammate Felipe Massa. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) set the third fastest time, almost half a second slower than Massa.

Times were slower in the afternoon session, where Raikkonen went fastest, on the medium compound, from Nelson Piquet (Renault). The twelve fastest cars in this session were separated by under a second.

Both Bridgestone’s hard and medium compounds were put through their paces on the track located north east of Barcelona. In contrast to the test that took place last week, weather conditions were good with blue skies and warm temperatures.

The best lap time achieved today was over half a second faster than the fastest Friday lap time last year, a 1min 21.397secs by Fernando Alonso (McLaren Mercedes) in FP2.

Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development, said:

"Tyre performance was very good today. The ambient and track temperatures were higher than last week and the track surface is not as good. There was less grip, which was reflected in the lap times. Also, we saw more graining than we did at last week’s test.

The difference between the two compounds is currently quite small. The medium compound is slightly quicker than the hard as it provides more grip, but wear with the medium tyre was slightly higher than with the hard. This is a circuit that Bridgestone and the teams know well and lap times were close in the afternoon session. We do not expect rain here this weekend so the grip level on track will improve. "

Stats of the Day

Total amount of laps completed by all drivers: 735 laps

Average number of laps per driver: 33 laps

Most laps by a driver: 61 – Glock (Toyota)

Fastest lap: 1min 20.649secs – Raikkonen (FP1)

Compounds used: Hard / Medium

Qualifying in 2007

Felipe Massa (Ferrari) set pole position using the medium compound Bridgestone Potenza tyre last season with a time of 1min 21.421secs, three hundredths quicker than Fernando Alonso (McLaren Mercedes), who was second fastest. K imi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) qualified on the second row.

Temperatures Ambient Track Weather

AM – Practice 17C-21C 26C-30C Sunny

PM – Practice 25C-26C 36C-38C-36C Sunny

Rachel Ingham – Andy Stobart – photos Bridgestone

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