Pizzonia Tops the Times at Jerez - Day One

Six Formula One teams kicked off today their final test of the 2004 season at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Spain.

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, back in action after he injured his ankle during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, posted the quickest time of the day in the Williams-BMW FW26.

Test driver Pizzonia finished ahead of Renault's tester Franck Montagny, who worked alongside Finn Heikki Kovalainen, fourth quickest today. Kovalainen, who was initially scheduled to test tomorrow, will instead be replaced by Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, with Spaniard Fernando Alonso joining the test on Thursday.

McLaren worked with their two test drivers Alexander Wurz and Pedro de la Rosa, the Austrian finishing as third quickest. Spaniard de la Rosa was fifth, ahead of Ricardo Zonta, who will race for Toyota at the Brazilian Grand Prix next week after skipping the race in Japan.

Zonta tested some aerodynamic components for the 2005 season and finished as sixth fastest. The Brazilian was joined by Frenchman Franck Perera, who today made his Formula One debut with the Japanese squad.

Twenty-year old Perera, racing in the Formula Three Euroseries this season, is a member of the Toyota junior team. Perera completed a total of 72 laps at the wheel of the TF104 and was slightly over a second slower than Zonta. The Frenchman will be replaced by Japanese F3 driver Katsuyuki Hiranaka, who will make his debut in a Formula One car on Wednesday.

The BAR and Jaguar teams had only one car each on track, with Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi carrying out testing duties for the Honda-powered team while Bjorn Wirdheim tested for the Ford-owned squad.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:17.111 95 2. Montagny Renault (M) 1:17.293 90 3. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:17.847 74 4. Kovalainen Renault (M) 1:18.175 54 5. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:18.465 71 6. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:18.542 44 7. Bernoldi BAR-Honda (M) 1:18.613 74 8. Perera Toyota (M) 1:19.695 72 9. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:20.042 82 All Timing Unofficial

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