Ricard 3: Sato flies

Sato completed a mammoth 105 laps in the morning, but only completed two more in the afternoon due to heavy rain showers. He raved about the new Honda, and despite the fact the track had changed to the high-downforce 4.157km layout, he stuck with the Canadian-spec engine to finish off its mileage quota.

"The engine was very, very good," he told autosport.com. "We had the chance right at the end of the morning session to go for a full blast! It was really good. We also tried a lot of things to improve the car."

Sato's best time of 1m10.830s was almost three-tenths clear of McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, who only completed 39 laps on the day. Renault tester Franck Montagny pipped McLaren's David Coulthard for the third fastest time, with Juan Pablo Montoya two-tenths further back for Williams.

Cristiano da Matta (Toyota), Marc Gene (Williams), Olivier Panis (Toyota) and Giorgio Pantano (Jordan) were next up. The latter took over from Nick Heidfeld as the German wasn't given medical clearance after his crash yesterday. He was understood to have journeyed to Marseille to receive the all-clear to resume tomorrow.

Team Sauber Petronas completed its three-day test at Silverstone when Giancarlo Fisichella covered 108 laps in his C23, setting a best time of 1m18.382s.

Takuma Sato BAR-Honda M 1m10.830s 107
Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes M 1m11.130s 39
Franck Montagny Renault M 1m11.437s 93
David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes M 1m11.446s 64
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m11.632s 63
Cristiano da Matta Toyota M 1m11.843s 74
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m12.628s 89
Olivier Panis Toyota M 1m13.391s 52
Giorgio Pantano Jordan B 1m13.500 75