Silverstone test, day 3: Wurz sets pace

McLaren test driver Alex Wurz topped the times at a drier Silverstone on the final day of Formula 1 testing at the Northamptonshire circuit more than half a second ahead of Jaguar's Eddie Irvine

After two days of rain, wind and drizzle, the teams were able to complete some welcome dry running today (Thursday). Wurz and team mate David Coulthard led the way for McLaren with first and third places respectively, despite both drivers running into engine problems.

The pair caused the running to be red-flagged twice and both stopped out on the circuit when their Mercedes-Benz V10s gave up. The Woking-based team decided to throw in the towel early and called it a day at 1600 BST.

Olivier Panis finished fourth fastest for the BAR team while team mate Jacques Villeneuve made a brief appearance for one hour in the afternoon and set the 10th fastest time during 12 laps of running.

Pedro de la Rosa in fifth led the two Benettons of Jenson Button and test driver Mark Webber in sixth and seventh.

International Formula 3000 Champion Justin Wilson, who drove brilliantly on his F1 debut with the Jordan team yesterday (Wednesday), completed only 47 laps today as his EJ11 was used by Jean Alesi to carry out back-to-back tests. Wilson finished 11th, just two places behind the Frenchman.

Alexander Wurz, McLaren-Mercedes B, 1m22.38s, 73
Eddie Irvine, Jaguar-Cosworth M, 1m23.02s, 74
David Coulthard, McLaren-Mercedes B, 1m23.43s, 61
Olivier Panis, BAR-Honda B, 1m24.05s, 89
Pedro de la Rosa, Jaguar-Cosworth M, 1m24.22s, 82
Jenson Button, Benetton-Renault M, 1m24.62s, 51
Mark Webber, Benetton-Renault M, 1m24.64s, 51
Jean Alesi, Jordan-Honda B, 1m24.79s, 70
Enrique Bernoldi, Arrows-AMT B, 1m25.22s, 56
Jacques Villeneuve, BAR-Honda B, 1m26.02s, 12
Justin Wilson, Jordan-Honda B, 1m26.16s, 17