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Fourth still the target for Lotus

Romain Grosjean topped the timesheets on two days in Barcelona, the first driver to do so in pre-season © Press Association

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Romain Grosjean insists that the team is only targeting fourth place in the constructors' championship this season despite its impressive testing performance.

Grosjean was quickest on both of the opening two days of the final test in Barcelona as Lotus recovered quickly from having missed out on the second test due to a chassis problem. Having told ESPNF1 during an exclusive interview that he believed Red Bull and McLaren were ahead of Lotus, Grosjean agreed when it was put to him that the team's main rivals would be Ferrari and Mercedes in 2012.

"It seems to be, but then maybe Force India is strong as well, we don't know about Toro Rosso, it's always tough to know where you are. Last year we finished fifth in the championship, this year we want to finish fourth so we'll have to beat one of the guys who were in front ... the target is for 2015 to be world champions; you have to go step-by-step and not try to jump three steps in a row."

Lotus is running a new floor, barge boards and front and rear wings on Saturday, and Grosjean said he expected the new parts to show up well against the car he was driving on the first two days.

"(We're running) a few different new parts, small details that should be good to test to be ready for Melbourne. We still have some test items we would like to do compared to yesterday, so I think Kimi will do them today and then we can have a compare and then a good idea of what will be the best setup for Melbourne."

Chris Medland is assistant editor at ESPNF1

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.