Narain Karthikeyan [Images] may have been struggling to keep pace with the other top drivers during testing sessions but the fastest Indian is happy with the progress made by him and his team.

Karthikeyan and his Jordan teammate Tiago Monteiro of Portugal were in action for the third day of testing in mild and dry conditions in Barcelona, and completed 74 and 43 laps respectively.

The 28-year-old, who is the first Indian F1 driver, clocked a best timing of 1 minute 17.59 seconds to finish three seconds behind the day's fastest man, Pedro De La Rosa of McLaren.

"I did 74 laps today and we tried a lot of new things with the car, especially tyre work for Bridgestone," Karthikeyan said.

"We also carried out some set-up changes and we are quite happy with the progress we have been making."

The two drivers focussed on conducting tyre testing for Bridgestone and chassis set up work in preparation for the Australian Grand Prix, to in Melbourne on March 6, as well as practising pit stops.

Unofficial times after third testing: (Driver, team, time)

P. De la Rosa, McLaren (M), 1:14.54

G. Fisichella, Renault (M), 1:14.60

R. Barrichello, Ferrari [Images] (B), 1:14.64

M. Schumacher, Ferrari (B), 1:14.91

C. Klien, Red Bull (M), 1:14.99

F. Alonso, Renault (M), 1:15.01

D. Coulthard, Red Bull (M), 1:15.09

N. Heidfeld, Williams (M), 1:15.56

V. Liuzzi, Red Bull (M), 1:15.64

A. Pizzionia, Williams (M), 1:15.79

R. Schumacher, Toyota (M), 1:16.28

N. Karthikeyan, Jordan (B),  1:17.59

T. Monteiro, Jordan (B), 1:18.67.

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