Pizzonia Sets the Pace at Barcelona

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia set the pace on the twelfth consecutive day of testing at the Barcelona circuit on Friday.

The Williams tester, who was driving last year's FW23 chassis fitted with the new BMW engine, completed 74 laps to finish nearly half a second ahead of Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who made his debut at the wheel of the Renault on Thursday.

The French team concluded on Friday their five-day test as they continued working on the new R202 which made its debut last Monday. For the second consecutive day, Italian Jarno Trulli drove the new machine, setting the third fastest time slightly behind Alonso.

Takuma Sato and Giancarlo Fisichella also wrapped up a four-day test for the Jordan team, with the Italian driver continuing with the development of the new EJ12. His Japanese teammate, however, was the fastest of the two at the wheel of last year's EJ11 despite a heavy crash in the morning.

Sato lost control of his car at the same corner where Michael Schumacher hard crashed earlier this week, and crashed into the tyre barriers, damaging his EJ11 but walking away unscathed.

"I have been doing some long runs, close to a race simulation and also some qualifying runs, which gave me an excellent feeling," said Sato. "Unfortunately today the axle broke on the last corner and I had quite a big shunt at around 250 km/h. I'm totally fine, but frustrated because I was doing a really fast lap time when it happened."

The Jaguar team joined the Barcelona test again today after working at the Lurcy Levis circuit, where the Milton Keynes squad worked in order to solve the problems with the front wing of the new Cosworth-powered R3. Both Eddie Irvine and teammate Pedro de la Rosa were in action at the Spanish circuit, with the Irishman driving the 2002-spec machine.

Irvine, who completed a total of 73 laps, tested a revised front wing while de la Rosa worked at the wheel of the R2, fitted with some aerodynamic components of the new car. Irvine was the slowest driver today, more than 1.5 seconds behind de la Rosa.

Testing will continue at Barcelona on Saturday, with only Jaguar on track.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:19.452 74 2. Alonso Renault (M) 1:20.028 49 3. Trulli Renault (M) 1:20.071 30 4. Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 1:20.527 44 6. De la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:20.533 51 7. Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 1:21.014 25 8. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:22.078 73 All Timing Unofficial