Jaguar Pleased with Klien and Bell

Formula One hopefuls Christian Klien of Austria and American Townsend Bell tested for Jaguar today at the Valencia circuit, hoping to secure a drive alongside Australian Mark Webber next season.

Ford-owned Jaguar have the most sought-after vacancy in F1 and are trying out F3 driver Klien, who is backed by Red Bull sponsorship, and Bell at Spain's Valencia circuit to see how good they are. Briton Justin Wilson, who raced for Jaguar in the last five Grands Prix of the past season and is hoping to retain the position, will be on track later in the week for routine winter testing.

Team spokesman Nav Sidhu said Wilson would be running in a 2003 R4 car to assess some development parts intended for next year's R5. "He is here to undertake regular development testing and is not involved in any sort of comparative evaluation. We do not need to evaluate and test Justin," he added.

Sidhu said Webber completed 37 laps before handing over to 28-year-old Bell just before lunch. The American had 63 laps while Klien did 84.

While the Austrian's best time of 1:11.9 seconds looked remarkable against Webber's best of 1:11.8, he benefited from running on different tyres to the Australian and with less fuel on board. Bell's best time was 1:12.3.

"The first impressions are that both guys are pretty good, both applied themselves in a good way," said Sidhu.

Jaguar are expected to name their second driver next month, with McLaren's experienced Austrian tester Alexander Wurz another strong candidate for the job.