Fisichella rounds off Force India's Barcelona testing

Giancarlo Fisichella rounded off Force India's four-day testing with 141 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya, clocking up more than 2000 km overall before returning to its Silverstone base to prepare for the opener in Melbourne.

Giancarlo Fisichella rounded off Force India's four-day testing with 141 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya, clocking up more than 2000 km overall before returning to its Silverstone base to prepare for the season opener in Melbourne later this month.

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Fisichella brought the programme to a productive close with a simulation of a race weekend and completed 141 laps with a fastest lap of 1min 21.045, which placed him 10th among 11 drivers, just ahead of Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais (1:21.629).

Held back by fog, Fisichella conducted initial set-up checks before launching into qualifying runs. Post-lunch, the Italian moved onto longer runs and put in a full race distance.

"It's been a good day with 141 laps. We went in the right direction with some set-up work and the car was very reliable so we could really start to work on the balance," Fisichella said.

"We didn't do the best lap time when the circuit was at its peak in the morning otherwise we could have improved the time, perhaps a 20.5, but overall I feel comfortable. It's quite encouraging, we now know where we need to improve," said the veteran driver.