Badoer Goes Fastest at Barcelona

Ferrari's test driver Luca Badoer finished on top of the timesheets on the first day of testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, where four teams began their preparation work ahead of the 2003 season, taking to the track for the first time since the end of last season.

At the wheel of an F2002 chassis, Italian Badoer, who worked on tyre testing for Bridgestone, jumped to the top of the times after finishing second in the morning session, posting a quickest time of 1:18.889.

Badoer was nearly a whole second faster than Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, who did not match the pace set by the Ferrari driver despite clocking the quickest time in the morning.

Jaguar driver Pizzonia completed a promising first day, covering a total of 68 laps as he acclimatised to the Milton Keynes team. His new teammate Mark Webber was not so lucky, and following a mechanical problem in the morning the Australian was unable to turn a wheel in the afternoon, failing to set a time.

"We have an awful lot of work ahead of us, but I'm happy because I see that everybody is working very hard and with a lot of enthusiasm ahead of next season," said Pizzonia at the end of the day. "The car and the engine are promising but we'll have to wait before making any predictions."

New Toyota driver Olivier Panis was third quickest with an hybrid version of the Japanese squad's TF102 chassis, the veteran Frenchman outpacing his new teammate Cristiano da Matta, who was more than two seconds slower than Panis after 43 laps at the wheel of last year's car.

"For this first day I concentrated on just learning the car and working with the team," said Panis. "Throughout the day we worked on improving my seat fitting and generally setting the car up to suit me.

"Overall it was a good day, constructive and positive. I tried to push a bit more towards the end of the session and I have a good initial feeling for the car. We will now sit down to discuss ways to improve the car and to set tomorrow's programme."

Da Matta's progress was hampered by some problems and he could not run as much as expected, but the CART champion admitted he was starting to feel comfortable with the car.

"We had a few little problems throughout the day, and I only managed to complete half the number of laps we had planned," he said. "However, this was my first real contact with the car, the team and this track.

"The afternoon was spent mainly doing in-and out laps but as the session progressed I was feeling more at home with the car. After the last CART race, testing the TF102 felt a bit different but it is only a matter of time before I settle in fully."

British American Racing test driver Anthony Davidson was also on track, carrying out the Brackley team's testing duties.

Testing at Barcelona continues tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:18.889 83 2. Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:19.797 68 3. Panis Toyota (M) 1:19.854 43 4. Davidson BAR-Honda (B) 1:21.733 58 5. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:21.925 43 6. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) no time 2 All Timing Unofficial

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