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BARCELONA, Spain -- Brawn GP had the fastest time again Thursday in a Formula One testing session, with McLaren showing slight improvement after an unimpressive week.
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Rubens Barichello set the pace at the Catalunya Circuit with a best lap time of 1 minute, 18.926 seconds a day after teammate Jenson Button was quickest. The Brazilian's time was the fastest of anyone's over four days and edged Nico Rosberg of Williams, whose morning lap of 1:19.774 was good enough for second.
Toyota's Timo Glock, Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Fernando Alonso of Renault rounded out the top five, while Lewis Hamilton improved from last in the morning period to finish eighth.
McLaren's pace is under question after the team struggled all week, with defending champion Hamilton finishing last on Wednesday.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Hamilton's main challenger last season, finished sixth ahead of Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber. It was the last F1 test featuring all 10 teams before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 29.
Brawn GP -- the former Honda team which only confirmed last week it would race this season after completing a buyout by Ross Brawn -- will take part in the last group testing session at Jerez from Sunday to Tuesday, along with McLaren, Williams and Renault.
The former Honda team appears to be reaping the benefits of its decision to focus on the 2009 car last year as it struggled at the bottom of the team standings.
