Kovalainen happy after first taste of R26.

Renault's new test and reserve driver, Heikki Kovalainen, got his first run in the team's new R26 chassis at the Valencia test on Wednesday, and immediately reckoned the car to be a step forward over the title-winning R25.

The Finn, who graduates to his F1 role full-time after finishing as runner-up to new Williams recruit Nico Rosberg in the inaugural GP2 Series campaign, partnered world champion Fernando Alonso on Renault's first day of testing following its launch in Monaco on Tuesday, and enjoyed two largely trouble-free sessions at the wheel of the new car.

"I could feel a really good level of potential in the chassis and engine," Kovalainen reported, "The R26 is an evolution of last year's car, which was already a good chassis, but I would say that the R26 is probably more comfortable and more stable, as well as being just as nice to drive."

Now that former test driver Franck Montagny has been released from his contract - the Frenchman was required to see out the winter test schedule at the end of 2005 despite being told he was to be dropped from the line-up - Kovalainen will undertake a large proportion of the team's testing programme, running alongside both Alonso and team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella.

"From my point of view, every day I feel better integrated in the team, and I am ready to work hard on a busy programme between now and Bahrain," the Finn said of the seven weeks that remain between now and the start of the race season, "I want to concentrate on the testing because it will be very important for the start of the season, but I need to continue learning about how the team works. That?EUR(TM)s very important, I think.

"For the team, the aim is to continue learning about the car and to do maximum mileage to work on reliability, because that will be the important thing in Bahrain. We also want to do some set-up work on the engine and chassis, to understand how they affect the car?EUR(TM)s handling."

Alonso's day in Valencia also proved positive, despite completing little running in the morning as his R26 succumbed to electrical problems, and he worked throughout the afternoon sessions on a tyre development programme.