Montoya Lowers Valencia Record - Day Two

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya lowered the Valencia track record on the second day of testing at the Spanish circuit.

Montoya posted a quickest time of 1:09.318 to better the time set by Ferrari rival Michael Schumacher in the morning session. The Williams driver, at the wheel of the new FW26, finished over a tenth ahead of the German Ferrari driver.

Six-time World Champion Schumacher was second quickest after Montoya managed to improve his time in the afternoon. The Ferrari driver, working with the F2003-GA car, broke the track record in the morning session with a best lap of 1:09.429, as he concentrated on tyre testing as well as set-up and electronics work.

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia was back in action for the first time since last year, testing for the Williams team in one of the old FW25 cars. Pizzonia, who is likely to be named Williams' second test driver for the 2004 season, showed good speed in his F1 return, posting the fourth quickest time of the day right behind German Ralf Schumacher in the FW26.

Toyota's Ricardo Zonta was fifth fastest in the first of the cars from the Japanese squad. While Zonta drove the TF103, teammate Olivier Panis worked with the new TF104, finishing as seventh quickest behind Briton Jenson Button in the BAR 005.

Italian Jarno Trulli and Frenchman Franck Montagny were again the men carrying out testing duties for the Renault team, who worked with both the new R24 car to be launched officially tomorrow and the hybrid R23B. Trulli drove the new car and posted the eighth quickest time, while Montagny finished in 11th with the old machine.

The Sauber team continued working with one of their C23 cars, driven again by Brazilian Felipe Massa, who resumed tyre testing.

"Today was not our lucky day," said Sauber's chief engineer Jacky Eeckelaert. "In the morning we experienced a mechanical problem which was the reason why Felipe couldn't run too many laps for us.

"Therefore we had to adapt our test schedule for today and only concentrated on Bridgestone tyre construction and compounds work. As a result of the interruption we didn't manage to complete our whole programme for today."

F3000 champion Bjorn Wirdheim debuted with the Jaguar team today, driving last season's R4. The Swede, hoping to become the Ford-owned squad's third driver for the 2004 season, managed to cover a total of 104 laps, setting the 13th fastest time of the session behind Mark Webber, who drove the new R5 chassis.

The Minardi team were in action with both their racing drivers for the 2004 season, with Italian Gianmaria Bruni being joined by Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner, who made his debut with the Anglo-Italian squad today at the Spanish circuit.

Both men shared the only PS04B chassis on track, with Bruni doing the driving in the morning and Baumgartner taking over in the afternoon. The Italian was the quickest of the two, while the Hungarian finished at the bottom of the times after only six laps.

"I was not lucky today, as some technical problems prevented me from doing any proper running," said Baumgartner at the end of the day. "It was unfortunate, because I was really looking forward to driving a Formula One car again after quite a long interval.

"What I can say about the Minardi, though, is that I'm feeling pretty comfortable in the cockpit. I hope we will have a better time tomorrow, and that there will be a chance to build up to some good lap times. I need to familiarise myself with the car and to get into the Formula One rhythm again."

The Valencia test continues on Thursday.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:09.318 54 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:09.426 86 3. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:09.690 80 4. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:10.157 85 5. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:10.355 91 6. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:10.360 80 7. Panis Toyota (M) 1:10.435 88 8. Trulli Renault (M) 1:10.492 86 9. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:10.638 54 10. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:11.091 99 11. Montagny Renault (M) 1:11.284 106 12. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:11.386 49 13. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:11.791 104 14. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:12.469 22 15. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:22.221 6 All Timing Unofficial

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