Gene Fastest on First Day of Testing at Barcelona

Spaniard driver Marc Gene marked his debut for the Ferrari team by setting the fastest time of the first day of testing at Barcelona, where the Italian team and rivals Toyota made an early start to the first official testing session ahead of the 2005 season.

Gene, who was Williams's test driver for the past four seasons, was announced as Ferrari's 2005 second test driver, alongside Luca Badoer, earlier this week. "After a week negotiating, everything speeded up and being here is like a dream," Gene told reporters at the Barcelona circuit today, after running a total of 68 laps in the F2004, adding that: "Ferrari have the best driver, but they also also have the best car."

Gene's time, of 1:15.662, is about half a second slower than the pole position time set by World Champion Michael Schumacher in May this year, for the Spanish Grand Prix. The circuit's lap record, however, is a further two seconds faster, standing at 1:13.767 - set by BAR's Takuma Sato before the 2004 season began.

Gene's programme for the day was to familiarise himself with the F2004 and the Bridgestone tyres, also ensuring his seat fits well. He ran short, 6-7 lap stints and worked on the car's setup.

Alongside Gene was Ferrari's veteran test driver Badoer - the Spaniard's teammate at Minardi in 1999 - who concentrated on tyre testing and development of solutions for the 2005 season. The Italian ran a total of 112 laps, the fastest being 1:17.676.

Toyota ran only with Jarno Trulli, who posted the second fastest time - some eight tenths of a second slower than Gene. Trulli ran a total of 87 laps.

All three drivers had a trouble-free day, under partly cloudy sky and cool temperatures.

In the afternoon, Williams took to the track with newly signed driver Mark Webber, who ran a total of four laps only, in order to verify that his seat fits well and to acquaint himself with the FW26 before Williams begin their testing session tomorrow.

Barcelona will see eight of the ten Formula One teams running on track for the next three days, beginning with tomorrow, and all four drivers from today are set to continue their running tomorrow morning.

Today's Times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Gene Ferrari (B) 1:15.662 68 2. Trulli Toyota (M) 1:16.477 87 3. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:17.676 112 4. Webber Williams-BMW (M) 1:27.953 4 All Timing Unofficial

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