Montoya on Top at Barcelona - Day Nine

Juan Pablo Montoya topped the time sheets on the ninth day of uninterrupted testing at the Barcelona circuit on Monday, during a session that started on a wet track which dried up as the day progressed.

"I didn't do many laps today," Montoya said. "But the few I did showed that we have made improvements with the set-up compared to yesterday. I hope to build on it."

The Colombian drove 24 laps in the old hybrid FW22 with the new BMW engine, being nearly half a second quicker than Giancarlo Fisichella at the wheel of the Benetton, who joined the session today.

The Italian completed a total of 55 laps driving the 2000 car, ending the session in front of Jaguar's Eddie Irvine in the new R2. The Irishman drove a massive 96 laps.

Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi was once again at the wheel of the Arrows A21, trying to familiarise himself with the car and testing reliability of the A22 components. Bernoldi, who is rumoured to be in line to become at least the team's test driver, completed 45 laps and was fourth fastest today in the only Bridgestone-shod car.

The rumours about Bernoldi replacing Pedro de la Rosa this season are increasing rapidly, though the Spaniard is expected to test tomorrow at Barcelona.

Briton Jenson was fifth fastest at the wheel of the second Benetton, more than a second slower than teammate Fisichella and in front of Ralf Schumacher, who was driving the new Williams FW23 which was unveiled last Saturday.

"It has not been a bad first day with the new car," Schumacher said. "My initial impressions are that it is stable and relatively easy to drive but development work is ongoing."

The German was more than two seconds off Montoya's time after 32 laps without reported problems. Brazilian Luciano Burti was seventh fastest in the Jaguar, while Prost's Gaston Mazzacane was slowest once more.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:20.904 2. Fisichella Benetton-Renault (M) 1:21.492 3. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:21.871 4. Bernoldi Arrows-AMT (B) 1:22.464 5. Button Benetton-Renault (M) 1:22.523 6. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:23.211 7. Burti Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:23.555 8. Mazzacane Prost-Ferrari (M) 1:24.454 All Timing Unofficial