Gene Leads the Way at Paul Ricard - Final Day

Williams test driver Marc Gene finished at the top of the timesheets on the final day of this week's testing at the Paul Ricard circuit in France.

The Spanish driver took advantage of the favourable weather conditions to post the fastest time of the week at the wheel of the first Williams FW25. The second car from the Grove-based outfit was driven by Monaco's Olivier Beretta, who today replaced German Ralf Schumacher.

"We had wet and dry weather and managed to complete a lot of testing on tyres, set-up, traction control, brakes and engines," said Williams's chief operations engineer Sam Michael. "We have found two good tyre compounds that suit our car to take to Imola GP, so we have taken a step forward there as well."

33-year old Beretta, a former Grand Prix driver for the Larrousse team back in 1994, had already tested for Williams earlier this year. He finished at the bottom of the times more than 2.5 seconds off Gene's pace.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who today lost his Brazilian Grand Prix victory to Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella, was second quickest in the first of the three McLarens on track. The other two were driven by test drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Alexander Wurz, the Austrian outpacing the Spaniard.

Briton Jenson Button was sixth quickest with the BAR 005 after taking over from teammate Jacques Villeneuve. At the Toyota team, Brazilian test driver Ricard Zonta and compatriot Cristiano da Matta were the men in charge of testing duties. Zonta was more than half a second quicker than the CART champion.

"I could really make the most of the track time this week: we tested various set-up options and went through a long list of items," said Zonta. "It was good to work alongside Olivier and Cristiano.

"I have not driven the TF103 since February in Barcelona, and I could feel that some significant progress has already been made over the last two months."

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:07.073 72 2. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:07.724 87 3. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:07.814 118 4. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:08.288 101 5. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:08.526 78 6. Button BAR-Honda (B) 1:08.669 73 7. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:08.902 61 8. Beretta Williams-BMW (M) 1:09.762 49 All Timing Unofficial

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