Jerez (Spain), Feb 11 (IANS) Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi clocked the seventh fastest time in the spanking new VJM03 on the first day of the four-day official pre-season Formula One test session here.

The going was wet Wednesday afternoon as Force India covered 300 km, focusing on system familiarisation in the morning and then balance runs in the afternoon. The team was able to finish the plan and create a solid platform for the rest of the test.

Liuzzi had a best lap of one minute, 24.968 seconds in the dry around the 4.428-km circuit and 1:30.403 in the afternoon that was marred by rain.

Liuzzi said: "It was definitely a good beginning to our testing programme. It was mainly about getting comfortable in the car, running through the systems. We did more than 70 laps and the car was reliable with no big issues. Unfortunately, we did just three laps in the dry in the morning before it started to rain."

Meanwhile, Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg was the quickest with 1:20.927 over 43 laps and he will be handing over the test duties to Michael Schumacher today.

Scuderia Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi was second fastest in 1:21.031, followed by Nico Hulkenberg of Williams (1:22.243).

World champion Jenson Button of McLaren ended up sixth on the time charts with 1:24.947 as he put in 79 laps.