Coulthard Quickest at Paul Ricard - Day Three

Scot David Coulthard set the fastest time at Paul Ricard, on the third day of testing at the French circuit.

Coulthard outpaced Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya by a mere three thousandths of a second after 120 laps. The Williams driver continued with the Grove-based team's preparations for the Monaco Grand Prix, completing 71 laps to finish more than half a second ahead of Finn Kimi Raikkonen.

Raikkonen was third quickest with the second MP4-17D chassis, while test driver Alex Wurz continued working with the new MP4-18 chassis that made its debut yesterday. The Austrian driver, however, did not enjoy a good session and, due to mechanical problems, he was only capable of completing ten laps and finished at the bottom of the times.

Wurz will continue working with the new McLaren tomorrow, as the Woking-based outfit complete their three-day test with the MP4-18. Brazilian Cristiano da Matta, who took over from teammate Olivier Panis at the wheel of the Toyota TF103, finished as fifth quickest after 103 laps.

The Renault team concluded a two-day test with Scot test driver Allan McNish at the wheel of the R23 chassis, which included a new air intake. McNish concentrated on tyre testing ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, doing long runs and completing a total of 156 laps, finishing as sixth fastest.

"We had another productive day's testing with Allan," said Mike Gascoyne, Renault's technical director. "We were able to run 156 laps, and concentrated on tyre performance for Monaco with some long runs. We also continued evaluating the updated aerodynamic package.

"Overall, we completed significant mileage during this test session with some very useful results. We are feeling confident and now look forward to the next race in Monte Carlo."

Testing at Paul Ricard concludes tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:10.820 120 2. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:10.823 71 3. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:11.436 93 4. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:12.086 105 5. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:12.322 103 6. McNish Renault (M) 1:12.433 156 7. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:14.621 10 All Timing Unofficial

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