Montagny on Top for Renault at Jerez

Franck Montagny finished the day on top of the times with the Renault R25, the French test driver posting a fastest time of 1:18.258. Renault had two drivers again in action, with Heikki Kovalainen driving the R24 chassis on his way to the fifth fastest time.

BAR's Anthony Davidson with the 007 chassis, and Enrique Bernoldi in the hybrid 006 were second and third quickest respectively as the British squad completed their preparations for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Davidson and Kovalainen forced the only two red flags of the day due to apparent mechanical problems.

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia was fourth quickest for the Williams team, while World Champions Ferrari finished at the bottom of the times with their drivers Luca Badoer and Marc Gene. The Italian was again working with the new F2005 while Gene drove the F2004M with which Ferrari competed in Australia.

Formula One testing won't return to Jerez until June.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time     Laps
 1.  Montagny      Renault              (M)  1:18.258   93
 2.  Davidson      BAR-Honda            (M)  1:18.550  105
 3.  Bernoldi      BAR-Honda            (M)  1:19.237   99
 4.  Pizzonia      Williams-BMW         (M)  1:19.567   70
 5.  Kovalainen    Renault              (M)  1:19.980   84
 6.  Badoer        Ferrari              (B)  1:20.677   32
 7.  Gene          Ferrari              (B)  1:21.319   64

All Timing Unofficial