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Lotus Renault driver Robert Kubica finished Formula One's first test session of the season with the quickest time on final day of testing at Valencia.
Kubica's lap of 1 minute, 13.144 seconds around the Cheste Circuit was faster than the leading times set by Red Bull and Ferrari over the previous two days.
Lotus Renault has invested its 2011 campaign in an innovative forward exhaust system and that appeared to pay off on Thursday as the Polish driver was about two-tenths of a second faster than the previous best time set by Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso on Wednesday.
Force India driver Adrian Sutil was second with a best lap of 1:13.201 in the team's 2010 car, while Jenson Button was third, running an interim version of McLaren's car from last season. The British team will unveil its new design in Berlin on Friday and Lewis Hamilton has already said it looks quite different from the rest of the field's liveries.
"Today was mostly about tyre work," said Button after running 105 laps.
Red Bull driver Mark Webber was fourth ahead of Ferrari rival Felipe Massa, whose morning run was hampered by a fire as a result of oil leaking into the exhaust. The Brazilian driver eventually returned to the track for a best lap of 1:14.017.
"We had a good day one and day three - day two wasn't quite so productive - but overall the team has done an awesome job," Webber said. "To get the car here for the first test and do the work we've done straight out of the box, it's impressive."
Former world champion Michael Schumacher's best lap was 1:14.537 in his Mercedes. He was just ninth fastest and finished behind rookie Pastor Maldonado (Williams) a second-and-a-half off the pace.
"We're starting to get an insight into the car's behavior and its responses to various set-up changes are proving to be very consistent," Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said. "After a few difficulties at the start of the test, we have finished with a strong day providing plenty of data and options to take forward to the next test."
Team Lotus was frustrated for the second straight day by a lack of power steering as Jarno Trulli managed to get in only 38 laps.
F1's next test session runs in Jerez
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