Sunny and dry as Barcelona test begins

(GMM) With a few minutes to go until the final group test of the 2010 pre-season begins, the early morning skies above Barcelona are sunny and the Spanish tarmac is dry.

The weather should remain good throughout Thursday's running, with similar conditions forecast for Friday.

Day three of the four day test on Saturday, however, could be disrupted by one or two showers, even though the outlook is not as bad as it seemed earlier this week.

Sunday, to mark exactly two weeks until the 2010 world champion begins 5,000 kilometers away in the Kingdom of Bahrain, should be another dry day at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Only USF1 and Campos are missing from the test this week, and the star of the local crowd on Thursday will be Fernando Alonso at the wheel of the Ferrari.

2009 world champion Jenson Button will be in action for McLaren, with the likes of Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton to wait until Friday to begin their final pre-season preparations.