Pizzonia Continues to Dominate at Monza - Day Three

Williams test driver Antonio Pizzonia continued to dominate testing at the Monza circuit, where the Brazilian topped the times for the third consecutive day.

Pizzonia, concentrating on set-up work and tyre assessment for the Italian Grand Prix, was more than half a second faster than Frenchman Olivier Panis, who at the wheel of the first British American Racing 004 chassis began his two-day test at the Italian track.

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa was third quickest with the Cosworth-powered Jaguar R3B. The Milton Keynes team had a more productive day than yesterday, despite Australian James Courtney only being capable of completing 12 laps due to a heavy crash in the morning.

"James was undertaking some mechanical testing in an old R3 as part of our development for next year's car," said a spokesman of the accident. "Thankfully, James is okay."

Briton Anthony Davidson posted the fourth fastest time with the second BAR, while Finn Mika Salo was fifth quickest with the first of the two Toyotas on track today.

Salo took over from teammate Allan McNish, and the veteran was joined by Australian test driver Ryan Briscoe, who set a promising sixth fastest time, only three tenths of a seconds behind Salo.

"My car was not set up for any performance running today, instead I concentrated on gaining data and testing data acquisition systems," said Briscoe. "This will prove useful for the Italian Grand Prix later in the season.

"Like Mika, I didn't get so much running done today, but I am very happy and now looking forward to working with Prema Powerteam again in my first German F3 race this weekend."

The Monza test comes to an end on Friday.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:24.084 61 2. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:24.665 54 3. De la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:24.783 55 4. Davidson BAR-Honda (B) 1:25.256 51 5. Salo Toyota (M) 1:25.968 41 6. Briscoe Toyota (M) 1:26.261 29 7. Courtney Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:29.037 12 All Timing Unofficial

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