Valencia 2: Nick wins 'shoot-out'

Nick Heidfeld did his chances of grabbing the second Williams seat this season a world of good at Valencia in Spain on Wednesday when he edged out team-mate Antonio Pizzonia after a proper head-to-head shoot out between the pair

The duo, who are fighting for the right to become Mark Webber's team-mate this season, were finally put onto exactly the same programme in the morning with a series of short lap stints with equal fuel loads in a bid to evaluate their potential speed.

And although Pizzonia triumphed in the first three runs, beating Heidfeld by up to two tenths, it was the German who responded with the best overall lap time to end their challenge with a three-tenths advantage.

The pair were switched onto different testing programmes in the afternoon and, with Heidfeld's place in the test being taken over by European Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx on Thursday, Wednesday's run was the final time the battling Williams drivers will run against each other.

Williams is not expected to make its final decision on the driver line-up until just prior to the launch of its 2005 car at Valencia on Monday - with some suggesting that the drivers themselves will not find out until just a few minutes before the announcement.

Giancarlo Fisichella was third fastest overall, continuing evaluation of last year's Renault R24, while team-mate Fernando Alonso spent most of the day either in the garage or concentrating on single-lap runs in the new car as he ended up ninth quickest.

Nick Heidfeld (Williams) 1m10.079s, 109 laps
Antonio Pizzonia (Williams) 1m10.364s, 97 laps
Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) 1m11.124s, 83 laps
David Coulthard (Red Bull Racing) 1m11.495s, 69 laps
Christian Klien (Red Bull Racing) 1m11.854s, 56 laps
Anthony Davidson (BAR) 1m11.944s, 104 laps
Ricardo Zonta (Toyota) 1m11.966s, 75 laps
Vitantonio Liuzzi (Red Bull Racing) 1m12.090s, 50 laps
Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1m12.098s, 28 laps
Takuma Sato (BAR) 1m12.062s, 107 laps
Olivier Panis (Toyota) 1m12.803s, 78 laps