Jerez: Sahara Force India's winter testing programme got underway on Wednesday with Paul di Resta expressing satisfaction at the performance of the brand new VJM05 in warm and sunny weather conditions in Jerez, Spain.

Resta was behind the wheel as the team started systems checks, data collection and set-up work.

On Thursday morning Jules Bianchi will get his first taste of the VJM05, before Resta takes over in the afternoon.

Resta completed 101 laps and the fastest lap was of 1:19.772 minutes.

"The baseline balance felt pretty good and the car performed consistently over the longer runs, which was useful for collecting the data we need. So I think we can be positive heading into tomorrow and the next three days will be interesting as we have more test items to evaluate," he said.

Team's Technical Director, Andrew Green, said, "We ran on the new 2012-spec hard and medium Pirelli tyre compounds throughout, which will help give us some consistency when analysing the data tonight. As usual, Paul's feedback was excellent and we're starting to get a good idea of the set-up direction we should take for the coming days."