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New McLaren Quickest at Barcelona - Final Day

McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz set the fastest time on the final day of this week's testing at the Barcelona circuit, where all teams except Minardi carried out their preparation work for the upcoming British Grand Prix.

McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz set the fastest time on the final day of this week's testing at the Barcelona circuit, where all teams except Minardi carried out their preparation work for the upcoming British Grand Prix.

After three days without setting a competitive time with the new MP4-18A chassis, Austrian Wurz finally showed the potential of the new car, posting the fastest lap of the week with a time of 1:17.611. Wurz, however, was unable to escape trouble, his car coming to a halt with a mechanical problem in the morning session.

The other two McLaren drivers on track, David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen, finished fourth and seventh respectively, the latter driving the MP4-18 while the Scot was at the wheel of the MP4-17D.

Wurz finished ahead of Ferrari's test driver Luca Badoer, who was the busiest man today, completing almost two Grand Prix distances to set a time more than half a second slower than Wurz. The winner of the two last Grands Prix, Ralf Schumacher, was third fastest with the first of the Williams, while Spaniard Marc Gene was ninth quickest with the second FW25.

The Renault team wrapped up a three-day programme at Barcelona, with Scot test driver Allan McNish again as the only man from the French squad to take to the track. McNish, who had two very busy sessions on the previous two days, today covered 87 laps on his way to the fifth fastest time.

Frenchman Olivier Panis finalised preparations and tyre choice for the British Grand Prix as he continued evaluating new aerodynamic, mechanical and engine developments for the Toyota team.

"We had a very big technical programme this week between Cristiano (da Matta) and myself, and I feel that we have done a very good job with the team," said Panis. "We managed to go through an extensive tyre casing programme with Michelin, not only for Silverstone but also ahead of the following races. We put a lot of effort yesterday and today in testing a new aerodynamic package comprising several elements such as front and rear wings, floor, engine cover and others.

"There is still quite some work to do and we have to go through a deep analysis of the data gathered to draw conclusions on it, but I definitely felt good things in this package. This was a solid test session for us and we have a lot to build on for a strong weekend at the British Grand Prix."

Jacques Villeneuve, Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson completed an intensive test for the BAR team, who have worked with three drivers all three days of their programme. Canadian Villeneuve was the fastest of the three, with Sato in tenth and Davidson in 12th position.

Switzerland's Neel Jani took over from German Nick Heidfeld at the wheel of the only Sauber on track. Test driver Jani finished at the bottom of the times after 49 laps.

"Before today's test, Neel set himself a goal of being within two seconds of Nick's time," said team boss Peter Sauber. "However, when he did his best time this afternoon the track temperature was much higher and consequently the track slower. Considering these circumstances he reached his goal and showed a good performance."

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:17.611 59 2. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:18.324 109 3. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:18.414 77 4. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:18.694 84 5. McNish Renault (M) 1:18.749 87 6. Panis Toyota (B) 1:18.891 83 7. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:18.973 28 8. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:19.013 70 9. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:19.422 72 10. Sato BAR-Honda (B) 1:19.747 70 11. Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:19.892 92 12. Davidson BAR-Honda (B) 1:20.463 96 13. Jani Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:21.757 49 All Timing Unofficial

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