Badoer Remains on Top as Testing Ends at Barcelona

Ferrari's test driver Luca Badoer was once again the fastest of three, as Ferrari and Sauber concluded their testing at Barcelona for this week.

Badoer, running a testing programme for Bridgestone behind the wheel of the F2004, ran a total of only 31 laps today, setting the fastest time at 1:15.446 - also the fastest time of the three-day session.

World Champion Michael Schumacher continued working on aerodynamics solutions for 2005, running the hybrid card F2004 M. Schumacher covered a total of 68 laps today, the quickest being about half a second slower than Badoer's.

Another World Champion on track today was Jacques Villeneuve, who replaced teammate Felipe Massa behind the wheel of the Sauber C24. Villeneuve ran into reliability problems at the end of his session, when he went off track due to unknown problem in the car. He nontheless covered 79 laps with a fastest time of 1:18.108 - some 2.5 seconds behind Badoer.

"Unfortunately our test here in Barcelona ended not the way we have wished for," commented Sauber's technical director, Willy Rampf.

"At the final timed lap Jacques experienced oversteer while accelerating out of turn 9 and went off track. Fortunately Jacques was unharmed, but we now, of course, have to analyse the data to get a correct and thorough picture of the reason for this incident.

"The positive aspect of this test is that we achieved our set goal to complete an engine long-run. We simulated a two-race weekend situation and covered almost 1,400 kilometres with one engine without any problem.

"Overall, the last three test days demonstrated the reliability of the C24. Our target for the forthcoming tests - whereby we will run with two cars from now - will be to further work on the car's set-up and hence the improvement of the balance."

Villeneuve himself added: "Today we mainly concentrated on aerodynamic tests and assessed several different front wings, and were able to gather quite a lot of useful data and information. Of course, I'm disappointed that I went off track at our penultimately scheduled lap, but at least it was just before the finish of today, so we didn't lose much valuable time."

Testing returns to the Circuit de Catalunya on February 15th, where seven teams - Ferrari, Renault, Williams, McLaren, Red Bull Racing, Toyota and Jordan - will be at the Circuit for three days.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:15.446 31 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:15.973 68 3. Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:18.108 79 All Timing Unofficial

View today's Full Laptimes from the Barcelona track

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