Alesi Flies Again at Barcelona - Day Eleven

Today was the eleventh successive day of testing at the Barcelona circuit in Montmelo, where Prost Grand Prix driver Jean Alesi was impressive once more, setting the quickest time for the second day running, though he was unable to match the pace set yesterday.

Alesi, driving the Prost-Ferrari AP04 on Michelin tyres, was some six tenths of a second slower than on Tuesday, but still managed to be the only driver to lap within the one minute nineteen seconds bracket.

"The team has done a very positive job," said Prost's sporting director John Walton. "With all the hard work that has gone into building this car on time, we have covered a lot of mileage in the last week and the results we have seen look very promising."

The former testing record holder until yesterday, Jarno Trulli, returned to the Circuit de Catalunya today, setting the second fastest time more than half a second slower than veteran Alesi. The Italian driver was the fastest of the two Bridgestone users present at the track today.

The Williams team continued today an eigth-day long programme at Barcelona, running with both the new FW22 and the new FW23. German Ralf Schumacher set the third quickest time at the wheel of the FW23, while Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was sixth with the old FW22 with the 2001 engine and transmission.

Dutchman Jos Verstappen, who was confirmed today as one of the drivers of the Arrows teams alongside Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi for next season, was fourth fastest as he continued his work with the interim Bridgestone-shod A21 with the new AMT engine.

Benetton's Jenson Button could finally go quicker than teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, the young Brit setting the fifth fastest lap of the day more than 1.2 seconds slower than Alesi. Meanwhile, Fisichella, who like his teammate was driving the old B200 chassis, was seventh.

Luciano Burti and Tomas Scheckter were, just like yesterday, the slowest drivers today at the wheel of the Jaguar R2 and the R1s respectively.

The fourteen-day long testing session at Barcelona will continue on Thursday.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. Alesi Prost-Ferrari (M) 1:19.423 2. Trulli Jordan-Honda (B) 1:20.094 3. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:20.568 4. Verstappen Arrows-AMT (B) 1:20.568 5. Button Benetton-Renault (M) 1:20.647 6. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:20.931 7. Fisichella Benetton-Renault (M) 1:20.975 8. Burti Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:22.321 9. Scheckter Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:24.239 All Timing Unofficial