Austrian GP Friday BAR notes

SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA, July 14, 2000 - Fifth and eighth fastest times respectively were the culmination of a highly productive day''s work for Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda drivers Ricardo Zonta and Jacques Villeneuve as they prepare for Sunday''s Grand Prix of Austria. Both BAR Honda 002 chassis were fitted with the Brackley team''s latest ''aero package'', a partial version of which assisted Villeneuve to a highly competitive fourth-place finish in the French Grand Prix. The men spent Friday''s two one-hour sessions fine-tuning the handling of their cars, the times indicating the chassis and engine package is working well around the twists and turns of the A1 Ring.

RICARDO ZONTA:
"It has been a good, productive day. We did not have any problems so I was able to do a lot of running. That allowed us time to get a good line on chassis set-up. The circuit here in Austria seems to suit our car well and we also seem to have taken a big step forward with the latest aero package. The full kit wasn''t available in Magny Cours, but we have it here and today we found a good direction to make the car faster. With the possibility of increased grip from the track surface tomorrow, we might be able to improve lap times by up to a second."

JACQUES VILLENEUVE:
"We just did our normal Friday work today. The car doesn''t feel that fast, but it is obviously pretty good - both cars are quick. This isn''t a difficult track to drive, although they have changed the curbs so you can''t drive over them any more. I preferred how they were last year. We''ll definitely be aiming for a top-10 qualifying position tomorrow, although top six would be great."

MALCOLM OASTLER:
"It was a good performance today, although we were running new tyres on both cars so we aren''t taking too much notice of the times. A better indicator of our relative performance will be where we are at the end of qualifying tomorrow."