Kimi Raikkonen gave his Monaco (and Canada) hopes a boost when he topped the timesheets at Paul Ricard, for the second consecutive day.
The Finn took a further 0.2s out of the best time he posted yesterday, as testing continued on the French circuit's 1E V2 SC (Short) configuration, which best replicates the Montreal track.
On the final day of a mammoth four-day test, which has seen the teams complete 11,927 miles (19,194 km) Raikkonen once again concentrated on set-ups and tyre evaluations. He also worked on the development of various mechanical and aerodynamic components. The Finn completed 100 laps on his way to posting a best time of 1:28.624.
Second quickest, and giving his team a timely confidence boost, was Giancarlo Fisichella in the Renault. The Italian, who concentrated on set-up work followed by aerodynamic testing, completed the team's technical programme without enduring any technical problems.
"We had a good day," said Fisichella "In terms of performance, the times are very close and I am pleased with what we achieved, as well as the handling of the car. We completed a big programme in preparation for Canada, and I think we are going in the right direction.
"I am pleased to be here working with the team today," he added, "because I know how important it is for us all to work hard at the moment."
"We concluded our programme with a good day's work," added Christian Silk. "The car was handling well, and we made good progress in preparation for the next races. It was a long, busy test this week but everybody gave maximum effort - and I think the good results we achieved this week, will keep us pushing even harder in the weeks ahead!"
Third quickest was Pedro de la Rosa in the McLaren. The Spaniard, who lost track time in the early afternoon following an engine failure, posted a best time 0.62s off Raikkonen's best.
Fourth quickest was Franck Montagny in the Toyota. The Frenchman worked on various set-up options as well as evaluating the Bridgestone tyres and completed another day of trouble-free running.
"The conditions were more favourable today and I was able to make better progress," said Montagny, at the conclusion of the day's programme. "We did some suspension and general set-up work and I also carried out more tyre evaluation. Without the wind that we had yesterday it was easier to make some more meaningful judgements in preparation for the North American races. We are learning all the time."
"It has been a good comprehensive test and we have got through everything we wanted to do," added Gerd Pfeiffer. "Logistically a test with different circuit layouts is no more difficult to organise as long as you know what you want to achieve and you plan properly. It does not involve additional team personnel but what you do notice is that four days is harder work than the regular three days. I want to thank everyone for their efforts this week. We started with Ralf doing two days concentrating on Monte Carlo preparation, while Franck finished the test on the faster circuit layout with the emphasis on Canada and the USA. Both drivers had one day affected by winds but we collected a lot of data for analysis back in Cologne."
One week ahead of his favourite, and usually most successful race on the calendar, David Coulthard ended the day fifth quickest. Although running on the configuration that most closely resembles the demands of the Montreal track, Coulthard also did some work for the Monaco race, working on suspension development. After the difficulties of the Barcelona weekend, reliability was top of the agenda this week for the Austrian team.
