25/03/2002

Pre-Brazil GP Testing Round-Up

Following another strong performance in Malaysia where Mika Salo qualified in the top 10 and Allan McNish only just missed out on a point Panasonic Toyota Racing continued with its test programme in Barcelona Spain.

Twenty-year-old Australian prodigy Ryan Briscoe started the test on Wednesday and completed 55 laps during the day turning a best lap time of 1m24.1s.

"It was great to be in the car again " Briscoe said. "There were a few technical problems because I was running a totally new chassis with a new specification engine. The idea was to put miles on the car and for me to gain some experience. I was on a hard compound tyre with a full load of fuel so I wasn't pushing to the limit."

Briscoe who reported no physical problems or neck stiffness after the test is now looking ahead to his F3000 debut with defending champion team Nordic Racing at the Brazilian Grand Prix meeting starting March 29.

Mika Salo took over Toyota testing duties on Thursday and Friday in Spain but experienced some mechanical gremlins. Even so he managed to lap in 1m20.09s just 1.8s slower than the quickest time of the test.

"We had some problems with the hydraulics which stopped us quite a bit but I still managed to do almost 100 laps over the two days and we learned some useful information for the next few races " Salo said.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro meanwhile continued to set the pace with Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello fastest in Spain in the new F2002 which has yet to be raced by the defending champions. West McLaren Mercedes test driver Alexander Wurz showed impressive speed in an updated 2001 chassis while David Coulthard concentrated on reliability testing with the 2002 car.

BMW Williams F1 Team had both Marc Gene and Ralf Schumacher on hand and the Spaniard should probably receive some kind of endurance award for completing no less than 131 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya last Friday - two race distances!