Tyre testing wraps up at Jerez

While the last open test session of 2004 came to a close on Friday, several drivers continued at Jerez de la Frontera over the weekend. Michelin was working on wet tyre tests on an artificially flooded track, trying out various specifications of rubber.

On Saturday Nick Heidfeld topped the times for Williams, although given the nature of the work, the times were not really significant. Heidfeld's best was 1:27.781. Renault test driver Franck Montagny was second on the time sheet and Pedro de la Rosa was third for McLaren.

He was followed by Red Bull's Christian Klien, Toyota tester Ricardo Zonta and BAR's Takuma Sato, in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. On Sunday only four drivers remained and de la Rosa was fastest with a best of 1:26.963.

Sato was second quickest, over two seconds down on the McLaren, and Montagny and Zonta were third and fourth. The drivers collected over 500 laps of data for Michelin on Saturday and over 350 on Sunday. Testing will resume at Jerez from January 10th.

Michelin motorsport director Pierre Dupasquier will retire at the end of 2005 and the French manufacturer recently announced that Frédéric Henry-Biabaud will take his place. Pascal Vasselon, F1 programme manager, has moved to a new post and Nick Shorrock will replace him from January 2005.