Da Matta has first Toyota F1 test

The Brazilian, who drives a Newman-Haas Lola-Toyota in the US-based series, was reported to be eight tenths of a second off Allan McNish.

"I am very impressed with this experience," he said. "I did 97 laps but I am not really tired. The car was much lighter to drive that in CART but more demanding on the neck due to much higher G-Forces. The high speed corners were particularly impressive and I didn't expect such high grip levels from the grooved tyres."

Da Matta was nearly two seconds faster than fellow CART driver Tora Takagi who tested for Toyota the day before. But the track was slower on Thursday.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen set the pace today, the Arrows driver surprisingly going quicker than the McLarens of Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard.

Nick Heidfeld was also testing and went fourth fastest in his Sauber. The German suffered an oil leak in the morning, but made progress later in the day.

"It was a shame we lost a little bit of time this morning," Heidfeld said. "But the team did a fantastic job to get the car rady again and we got a lot of important work done this afternoon."

Ferrari completed its week of testing at the Fiorano circuit. Rubens Barrichello was behind the wheel today, shaking down three of the four cars the team will take to the Monaco Grand Prix. Meanwhile, test driver Luca Badoer managed 45 laps at Mugello. He was carrying out set-up work and testing mechanical components in an F2002.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth B 1m12.530s 90
Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes M 1m13.532s 94
David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes M 1m13.694s 111
Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas B 1m14.097s 69
Allan McNish Toyota M 1m14.235s 63
Cristiano da Matta Toyota M 1m15.082s 97