Irvine Tops Barcelona Test; Pizzonia Shines - Day One

Irish driver Eddie Irvine set the pace on the first day of testing at the Barcelona circuit, where four Formula One teams kicked off their preparations for the final Grand Prix of the year at the Suzuka circuit next week.

The Jaguar driver, who finally returned to the points after four months by finishing in fourth place at the United States Grand Prix last Sunday, completed a total of 64 laps with the team's R2 to finish the session ahead of the impressive Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, who tested for the Williams team.

The F3000 driver was one of the busiest man on the Catalan circuit, completing 84 laps, and finishing only four tenths of a second behind Irvine. Pizzonia forced the session to be red-flagged in the morning when he spun off the track, fortunately not causing any damage to his FW23. The Williams team, who took three different cars to Barcelona, was also present with their official test driver Marc Gene.

The Spanish driver worked at the wheel of an hybrid version of the FW23, powered by the new BMW engine expected to be used in 2002 by the Grove-based team. Gene spent a big part of the day in the pits and was able to set the fourth fastest time behind McLaren's tester Alexander Wurz.

Australian Mark Webber was the only man present for the Benetton team today, the test driver's progress being hampered by a mechanical problem with his car, which stopped at the end of the straight with smoke coming out from the rear.

Briton Darren Turner was also at Barcelona, testing again for the McLaren team. The DTM driver completed a massive 94 laps but finished the day as the slowest man.

Testing at Barcelona will resume on Thursday.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:20.733 2. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:21.134 3. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:21.171 4. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:21.673 5. Webber Benetton-Renault (M) 1:21.837 6. Turner McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:21.975 All Timing Unofficial