Fernando Alonso's second homecoming fizzled.
Testing Renault's 2008 car against most of his Formula 1 rivals for the first time, Alonso could only post the sixth-fastest lap time on Tuesday in front of a single-day record for a test session home crowd of 35,000.
The session didn't finish on a high note for the two-time F1 champion, either, with Alonso's car stalling on the straightaway as he rounded for his final lap, smoke billowing from its engine.
PHOTO: EPA
Instead, Ferrari dominated to show why it is still the team to beat heading into the new season.
Felipe Massa finished with the fastest time of 1 minute, 12.182 seconds from 97 laps around the 4.005km Cheste Circuit.
Teammate and defending champion Kimi Raikkonen was next fastest in 1:12.721. Williams driver Nico Rosberg was third in 1:12.838.
No other team beat the 1:13 mark. McLaren drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Pedro De La Rosa rounded out the top five as 10 teams -- only Super Aguri was missing -- fielded their 2008 cars.
Alonso, who was more than a second slower than Raikkonen with a time of 1:13.315, stayed upbeat.
"I completed some long runs this afternoon, and the car was reacting well, so the results are encouraging," he said. "We now need to keep moving forward and developing the car."
On Monday, Alonso's new car was rolled out for the first time in front of 6,500 fans who'd endured blanket fog. He timed 1:13.027 in that session, with only Williams' Nico Hulkenberg also on the track.
Renault expects the R28 to allow Alonso to challenge for the title.
Alonso's former McLaren teammate, Lewis Hamilton, was to get back on track yesterday.
Alonso returned to Renault in November after a rocky first season at McLaren in which he felt he wasn't given the No. 1 status due over the rookie Hamilton following back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006.
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