The Sauber F1 team (still officially known as BMW Sauber despite the manufacturer's withdrawl) continued to surprise with their early form as they once more recorded the second fastest time of the day.
Today (Tuesday) saw Japanese Toyota refugee Kamui Kobayashi take over driving responsibilities for Pedro de la Rosa.
The Japanese driver completed 96 laps, the lowest of the seven runners, on what technical director Willy Rampf called a “positive” day. He added that the car ran with a variety of fuel loads as the team carried out basic set-up work along with gathering data to compare to computer simulations.
“It was definitely a good day,” Kobayashi understated. “We had no problems with the car and covered a lot of mileage. The car felt good. I enjoyed driving a lot and also working with the team. It was a difficult winter for everyone but they seem to have done a good job; I want to thank them for that. Now it is important to keep working hard for the remaining test opportunities.”
His fastest time (1:12.056) was only three tenths off the pace of Felipe Massa and seven tenths faster than de la Rosa's initial effort yesterday.
The Spaniard will return to the C29's cockpit tomorrow for the third and final day of the Valencia test.
