Barcelona/Valencia testing 2002-11-27

Testing continued today at the Circuit de Catalunya and at Valencia with a total of sixteen drivers on the two tracks. Barcelona was the quieter of the two, where Jaguar new boy Antonio Pizzonia again showed his pace. Second behind the Ferrari of Luca Badoer yesterday, Pizzonia upped the ante to take the top time today, a 1:17.966 over 53 laps. Badoer had to settle for second.

Jaguar team mate Mark Webber was not so successful: after only managing three laps yesterday due to technical glitches, the Australian today barely managed to double that. Engine teething troubles was reportedly the problem and although Webber managed to set a time he was at the bottom of the list, some 15seconds off Pizzonia's fastest.

The Toyota pair of Olivier Panis and Christiano da Matta were third and fourth quickest respectively in front of the sole BAR of Anthony Davidson. Panis ran next season's RVX-03 engine along with a seven speed gearbox in the interim chassis while da Matta was happy with getting used to the car despite a minor spin in the morning.

At Valencia McLaren were on the pace, Kimi Raikkonen setting the fastest time of 1:12.335 just ahead of tester Alex Wurz. Williams again had four cars on track: Juan Pablo Montoya third quickest and evaluation-driver Giorgio Pantano fifth, ahead of regular tester Marc Gene. The fourth Williams on track was another new driver being tried out, Vitantonio Liuzzi, who was eighth.

Jarno Trulli continued for Renault and was a respectable fourth. Nick Heidfeld was seventh fastest for Sauber, working on electronics, although the team lost time after the German spun. Heidfeld continues tomorrow to work on aerodynamics.

Minardi rounded off the times with Italian Matteo Bobbi joining Sergey Zlobin for the Faenza squad. The pair continued with a hardware and software programme for the 2003 car and completed Minardi's two-day test.