Sato fastest at Barcelona test

Williams, Sauber and Jaguar joined the week's test session at the Circuit de Catalunya today, making seven teams and 11 drivers on track. BAR's Takuma Sato set the best time of the day, a 1:14.676 over 105 laps, just one hundredth of second ahead of Renault's Jarno Trulli.

Renault continued with Trulli and Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard fifth fastest. Trulli worked on new chassis developments but an oil leak forced him to have an engine change in the afternoon. Alonso focused on set up and the new RS24 engine but the unit suffered a failure, which restricted his running.

Luca Badoer was the sole Ferrari on track, with two F2004 cars at his disposal. He worked on set up and completed a distance run. Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello join the test tomorrow. McLaren fielded tester Alex Wurz, fourth, and David Coulthard replaced Pedro de la Rosa, the Scot finishing eighth quickest.

Test driver Marc Gené was the quicker of the two Williams on track, sixth, while reigning IRL champion Scott Dixon got his second taste of the FW26. The New Zealander, who previously tested with Williams at Paul Ricard in March, familiarized himself with the car and worked on set up, setting the ninth fastest time of the day. Gené focused on set up and tyre compounds.

Toyota's Olivier Panis got the better of team tester Ricardo Zonta, the pair seventh and 10th respectively. Jaguar test driver Bjorn Wirdheim was eleventh fastest of the day.

Felipe Massa started Sauber's test with a mechanical problem that required an engine change. Once on track, the Brazilian worked on tyres and was the final driver on the time sheet. Massa continues tomorrow and teammate Giancarlo Fisichella takes over on Friday.