Rain Hinders Valencia Test - Final Day

A heavy rain throughout the day hampered the teams' progress on the final session of this week's testing at the Valencia circuit.

Although there were five teams present at the Spanish circuit, only Williams and Toyota decided to run on the flooded track. McLaren, BAR, and Jaguar, who were scheduled to run today, decided not to take to the circuit.

German Ralf Schumacher was the fastest man with the Williams FW26, although the German, like his teammate Marc Gene, completed only 27 laps. Schumacher finished almost two seconds ahead of the Spaniard, who drove the second BMW-powered car.

"Just before bad weather hampered the test programme on Friday, the BMW P84 engine successfully completed another race simulation," said BMW motorsport boss Mario Theissen. "The engine specification used will be the one we have in Melbourne so we should be well prepared for the season's opener."

The Toyota team wrapped up their penultimate test today before traveling to Imola next week for the final programme before the Australian Grand Prix. Brazilian Ricardo Zonta was joined by Australian Ryan Briscoe, who only managed five laps at the wheel of the TF103.

Zonta drove the TF104 and was slowest.

"We had two good and productive days, constantly improving in many areas," said Zonta. "I must say that I like being kept so busy completing a lot of laps. We worked on the various control systems of the car and made some solid progress with electronics.

"Looking ahead to Melbourne, we also managed some good tyre testing. Today, I switched to the TF104 but we could not get much done on such a wet track. In that respect, I am glad I had the chance to get a proper feel for the new car last week in Paul Ricard."

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:36.966 27 2. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:38.828 27 3. Briscoe Toyota (M) 1:41.940 5 4. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:43.258 13 All Timing Unofficial

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