Barca 2: Sato sets pace

The Japanese BAR driver just pipped Renault's Jarno Trulli to the best time having spent the day working on tyres and suspension set-up, playing his part in a big Michelin assessment of compounds and constructions.

Trulli is still positive about the new-spec Renault engine he was using, despite having to get the unit changed after an oil leak cut short his projected race run after 28 laps.The team will repair the engine and use it again tomorrow.

Fernando Alonso also tried the new engine and pronounced it a step forward, but he too hit motor problems and only completed 56 laps.

IRL Champion Scott Dixon put in a full day with Williams, driving 97 laps as he concentrated on familiarising himself with track and car. He set the ninth best time of the day, 0.715s slower than temporary team-mate Marc Gene, who put in the sixth best time during his tyre programme.

Dixon reported that he was basically learning the circuit and playing himself into F1. He was allowed some leeway to experiment with set-up and found the FW26 highly responsive to changes. "I'm quite happy with what I've done so far," he said. "So far, so good."

Gene reckoned there were some good and some less good tyres in the selection he tried, but that it is hard to judge the rubber in temperatures that are almost certainly considerably cooler than the teams will encounter in the Spanish GP on May 9.

Luca Badoer was close to the pace to for Ferrari, also putting in a hard day's graft as he completed 118 laps concentrating largely on Bridgestone tyre testing.

McLaren had two drivers on-hand Alex Wurz and David Coulthard. They drove 140 laps between them, the Austrian fourth quickest and his Scottish colleague eighth.

Olivier Panis continued work on the revised Toyota, backed by test driver Ricardo Zonta, while Bjorn Wirdheim put in 100 laps in the sole Jaguar.

Felipe Massa rounded out the runners, having struggled with an oil system problem and only completed 48 laps in the Sauber.

Takuma Sato BAR-Honda M 1m14.687s 107
Jarno Trulli Renault M 1m14.702s 78
Luca Badoer Ferrari B 1m14.864s 118
Alexander Wurz McLaren-Mercedes M 1m14.935s 67
Fernando Alonso Renault M 1m15.119s 56
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m15.217s 111
Olivier Panis Toyota M 1m15.803s 100
David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes M 1m15.835s 73
Scott Dixon Williams-BMW M 1m15.932s 97
Ricardo Zonta Toyota M 1m16.114s 97
Bjorn Wirdheim Jaguar M 1m16.579s 100
Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas B 1m17.125s 48