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Raikkonen Leads the Way at Jerez - Day Three

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen posted the fastest time of the day at the Jerez circuit in Spain, where the Woking-based squad today concluded their testing programme for 2002.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen posted the fastest time of the day at the Jerez circuit in Spain, where the Woking-based squad today concluded their testing programme for 2002.

The Finn driver, third quickest yesterday, jumped to the top of the timesheets with a fastest time of 1:19.774, being the only man to lap below the 1:20s. Australian Mark Webber, who had endured a poor session yesterday after being hit by engine problems, enjoyed a more positive day with the Jaguar R3C, setting the second quickest time after 96 laps.

Anthony Davidson was third fastest in the first of the British American Racing cars, the British test driver replacing Canadian Jacques Villeneuve in the car. The second Honda-powered BAR was driven again by Briton Jenson Button, who continued acclimatising to his new team after making his debut with them on Friday. Button, who finished testing today, also worked on tyre testing for Bridgestone and posted the eighth quickest time.

"It's been a little bit up and down today," said Button. "The weather conditions made it difficult to test anything early on but once it was dry we were able to do some proper tyre testing which was good. This has been a positive test for me - a good starting point.

"It's better to get to know the team before I get into the new car which I'm looking forward to driving for the first time in January. I feel very much at home with the team. There's a good vibe and I've started to build a good relationship with my engineers who seemed happy with my feedback. I'm looking forward to a good break now before we start testing next month."

German Ralf Schumacher and Spaniard Marc Gene were again in charge of the testing duties for the Williams team, who like McLaren wrapped up their programme today. Schumacher, fifth fastest, continued with tyre testing while Gene put more miles on the new BMW P83 engine, finishing in seventh position.

"We are pleased with the test results," said BMW's Mario Theissen. "One of the two FW24 was powered by our new P83 BMW engine which Marc Gene was driving, focussing on engine set-up, traction control and the car set-up.

"We have had no problems with the new engine. Meanwhile Ralf's car has been running the P82 engine and last year's gearbox."

Renault's Fernando Alonso was sixth fastest in the hybrid R202, the young Spaniard testing wet weather tyres in the morning, when the track was still wet from some overnight rain. Alonso had a problem with his gearbox in the morning and had to wait until it was repaired to return to the track.

"This morning we began testing with wet weather tyres since it started out wet," he said at the end of the day. "In the afternoon we continued testing tyres, trying out some different combinations."

Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais made his debut with the Renault team today, taking over from Italian Jarno Trulli at the wheel of last year's R202. The current F3000 champion, who had already driven an F1 car when he tested for Arrows earlier this year, completed a total of 22 laps on his way to the ninth quickest time of the session ahead of compatriot Franck Montagny.

Bourdais forced the session to be stopped once when he spun and stalled his car on the circuit. Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia could only complete eight laps today with his Jaguar, finishing at the bottom of the times more than five seconds off the pace.

Jaguar, BAR and Renault will conclude the test at Jerez tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:19.774 51 2. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:20.304 96 3. Davidson BAR-Honda (B) 1:20.657 54 4. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:20.905 79 5. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:21.352 76 6. Alonso Renault (M) 1:22.076 70 7. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:22.228 62 8. Button BAR-Honda (B) 1:22.652 72 9. Bourdais Renault (M) 1:23.170 22 10. Trulli Renault (M) 1:24.480 48 11. Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:25.174 8 All Timing Unofficial

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