Jaguar Set for Decisive Test

Jaguar Racing technical director Guenther Steiner has given more details on the back-to-back tests of their two cars in Barcelona starting on Wednesday.

Under-pressure Jaguar will test this year's R3 along with last year's R2 car at the Circuit de Catalunya in a bid to cure major problems with the new machine.

The team will use the current car, which Eddie Irvine took to a surprise fourth-place finish in Australia, in the Brazilian Grand Prix but could revert back to last year's R2 for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

"We will decide in the week when we do our comparison of R2 against R3, and we will see what the exact time difference is," Steiner said on the team's official website. "If R2 is better, maybe we can get some points again in the future.

"I want to make a rational decision. If R2 is better, we go to R2. We have to do the best for the team, and that is to get the quickest car, for sure. If we can avoid it, we avoid it. But if that is not based on any emotions or anything, it's just based on the speed of the car."

Steiner, however, took heart from the fact that Pedro de la Rosa has finished both Grands Prix so far this season in the R3, albeit outside the points, although Irvine did retire in Malaysia.

He added: "In four starts we've got three cars to the finish, so it doesn't seem too bad on the reliability side."

Irvine and de la Rosa will use both cars on each of the three days of the test in Barcelona in a bid to decide which performs better in the same conditions.