Minardi Complete Misano Test

The Minardi Formula One team completed on Thursday a three-day test at the Autodromo Santamonica, in Misano, Italy.

The Faenza squad completed their programme for the day, which included runs for Israeli driver Chanoch Nissany and Nicolas Kiesa in the morning, and Christijan Albers in the afternoon.

Kiesa, who drove for Minardi in the second half of the 2003 season, returned to the wheel of a Formula One car, covering just five laps with a best time of 1:22.570.

"It was great to drive a Formula One car again," said Kiesa. "All the feedback from the controls was clear and consistent, and it didn't feel as though it had been a year since I last drove one of these cars â€" everything came back to me quickly.

"We did just three timed laps, and the track conditions were not the best this morning. The surface was still wet in a number of spots, but even so, the car was well-balanced and easy to drive. I want to thank Paul Stoddart and the whole Minardi team for giving me the chance to show that I can still drive an F1 car."

Nissany, for his part, completed 27 laps with a best time of 1:21.800.

"We started the session on Bridgestone 'shallow wet' tyres, as the track was still wet in places, but then gradually the surface dried up and the grip improved," he said. "I'm satisfied with the job I've done today."

Dutchman Albers also covered 27 laps and set the quickest time of the day with a lap of 1:14.740.

"I'm satisfied with the work we did today," said Albers. "We completed our programme and, once again, I really enjoyed working with the team. I also discovered some interesting things with regard to chassis set-up that increased my confidence with the car, and now we know how to improve our lap times at this circuit.

"There is still work to be done, of course, but with everything I've learned this week, we'll aim to make even more progress at the next test."