BAR Barcelona test

Circuit de Catalunya, BARCELONA, February 2nd 2001 - the Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda team continued their intensive testing programme in Spain in preparation of the forthcoming 2001 championship opening race in Melbourne on March 4th.

Regular drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis took part in the testing programme with Jacques driving the BAR003 and Olivier in the BAR002. Both drivers continued with set-up work and tyre testing.

Weather : Cold start, Bright and Sunny. Good Track Conditions.

Jacques Villeneuve
"The test has gone well. The car is still very heavy to drive at the moment, but we have been able to make progress. We seem to be getting better and better, so that's encouraging."

Steve Farrell, Chief Engineer
"So far so good. We have made steady progress on the new car and we are now really getting to grips with its character - it's a different beast to the 2000 car so it has taken us more time to understand it. With the good reliability we have had lots of track time and have done a massive amount of set-up work."

<pre> Unofficial Times Lap Time No of Laps Panis BAR 1:19:319 56 Frentzen Jordan 1:19:998 65 Barichello Ferrari 1:20:238 68 Heidfeld Sauber 1:20:280 39 Villeneuve BAR 1:20:363 80 Raikkonen Sauber 1:20:442 42 Bernoldi Arrows 1:20:548 54 Button Benetton 1:21:213 40 Fisichella Benetton 1:23:534 16

-BAR