Panis on Top at Barcelona - Day Five

The fifth day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday was held under sunny weather conditions, and Frenchman Olivier Panis set the quickest time of the session driving the BAR-Honda.

The day saw the two Honda-powered teams, BAR and Jordan, testing together for the first time since both outfits use the official Japanese engines.

Panis was at the wheel of both the old 002 chassis and the rebuilt BAR 003 with which Jacques Villeneuve crashed last week, working on front wing set-up, and setting a best time of 1:20.787 with the old car, completing 53 laps.

The Brackley-based team is expected to continue testing tomorrow despite launching their new car, with test driver Darren Mannning at the wheel.

World Champion Michael Schumacher completed Ferrari's testing programme today, working mainly on tyres and electronics. The German was second fastest after 83 laps, more than half a second slower than Panis.

"We have worked a lot on the tyres, especially with a view to the first two races of the season," explained Schumacher at the end of the day. "Bridgestone are supplying us with very good tyres. On top of that we tried a few traction control solutions."

Arrows' Jos Verstappen was third quickest despite losing some track time following an off during the morning. While damage was only superficial there was a lengthy stop as the mechanics made repairs and checked the set-up of the car before he could go back out.

Meanwhile, Jarno Trulli continued working on the Jordan EJ11 and set the fourth fastest time. The Italian, who owns the testing record at the Barcelona circuit, was more than a second slower than Panis after completing a massive 94 laps in an attempt to improve the car's reliability.

The Williams-BMW team joined the testing session at Barcelona today, with test driver Marc Gene at the wheel of the interim FW22 on Michelin tyres. The Spaniard set the slowest time of the day.

"We weren't able to do as many miles as we would have liked," explained Gene. "We had a small engine problem, nothing serious, but it stopped us from doing more laps. We changed the engine and then we worked on the Michelin tyres."

Testing at Barcelona will continue on Friday.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:20.787 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:21.340 3. Verstappen Arrows-AMT (B) 1:21.719 4. Trulli Jordan-Honda (B) 1:21.899 5. Manning BAR-Honda (B) 1:22.093 6. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:22.840 All Timing Unofficial