Panis Quickest on First Day of Barcelona Testing

BAR driver Olivier Panis ended up fastest in the first of a three-day testing session at the Barcelona circuit.

The Frenchman set the fastest time during the morning session, and no one - not even he himself - was able to improve on his time, Panis setting a time three tenths slower during the afternoon.

Panis's best lap, set under sunny and warm conditions, was almost two tenths slower than Ralf Schumacher's time during last week's test, when most of the Michelin users ran at the Catalan track.

David Coulthard only completed 20 laps in the afternoon, as the British team finished the day's work earlier than anticipated.

The Scot, who had a trouble-free day, was second quickest, only five hundredths of a second slower than Panis.

Ferrari's Luca Badoer was one of only two drivers who improved their morning time during the afternoon, Badoer setting the third quickest lap of the day after concentrating on developing the Bridgestone tyres. Also to improve was BAR's newcomer Mark Hynes.

Pedro de la Rosa was fifth fastest with the Arrows, showing again some good performance from the Peugeot-based AMT engine.

The Arrows team had to work very hard in order to be able to get de la Rosa's car ready for Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia who, with thirty minutes remaining, finally took the track.

The current British Formula Three champion, in his debut with the team, was not able to use the 2001-spec Bridgestone tyres as he has no contract yet for next season.

As was the case during the morning, the session had to be red-flagged, this time when Heinz-Harald Frentzen stalled his Jordan after spinning off the track.

Japanese driver Takuma Sato completed 22 laps for BAR in his first outing with the team, as part of BAR's drivers' development programme.

Testing at Barcelona will continue tomorrow.

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Reuters images from today's test session: &url=qcq9406a">Spain: Formula One Brazilian Pilot Antonio Pizzonia. &url=qcq94064">Spain: Formula One Spanish Pilot Pedro De La Rosa. &url=qcq94063">Spain: Formula One Japanese Pilot Yakuma Sato. ------

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:20.622 2. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:20.675 3. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:21.784 4. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:21.247 5. De la Rosa Arrows-AMT (B) 1:21.285 6. Trulli Jordan-Honda (B) 1:21.296 7. Frentzen Jordan-Honda (B) 1:21.417 8. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:21.711 9. Raikkonen Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:22.886 10. Manning BAR-Honda (B) 1:23.359 11. Pizzonia Arrows-AMT (B) 1:24.350 12. Sato BAR-Honda (B) 1:24.467 13. Hynes BAR-Honda (B) 1:25.267 All Timing Unofficial (.*)", $lines_string, $head); $title = $head[0]; $clean1 = str_replace("TITLE", "b", $title); $clean2 = str_replace("(REUTPX)", "", $clean1); $clean3 = str_replace("2000-12-18 : SPAIN: ", "", $clean2); $clean4 = strtolower($clean3); $clean5 = str_replace("", " ", $clean4); $clean6 = ucwords($clean5); eregi("

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