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BMW Sauber Tops Bahrain Testing on Monday

Ferrari, Toyota and BMW Sauber have finally enjoyed a decent testing session in Bahrain during the course of today, succeeding in putting their 2009 challengers to work for the entire duration of the Monday meeting. Although still a bit cloudy in the first part of the day, the whether allowed the three teams go on with their scheduled testing without any interruptions.

BMW's Christian Klein managed to top the timing sheets after running the BMW Sauber F1.09 for 131 laps overall. The Austrian driver recorded the best time of 1:32.544, having focused on the mechanical and aerodynamic set-up of the car, as well as trying different tire compounds. In addition, Klien did some start simulations in the final part of the testing session.

“Today was a very productive day. We collected a lot of data and I even did a long run at the end of the session. Again we didn’t have a single technical problem, which is very encouraging,” said Klien, according to BMW Sauber's official site.

Second overall was Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who focused most of his testing on running different setups for the Ferrari F60. According to the team's official site, the Finn “drove around eight stints (in the morning), while in the afternoon the long stints were started. He recorded the best time of 1.32.804.

Finally, Toyota's Jarno Trulli recorded the 3rd fastest time of the day, stopping the clock at 1:33.064 after an overall mileage of 141 laps. Nevertheless, the Italian driver was very satisfied with the testing on Monday, considering it was the first time he got to properly test the TF109 on the Sakhir track.

“We made it through way more than two race distances today - in fact I think this is my personal best for mileage at a test day! So I'd say this was a positive and productive day. There were a lot of items to test on a full programme and we got through everything,” said Trulli, who also focused most of his testing on mechanical and aerodynamic set-up along with tire comparisons.
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