Valencia, day 5 am: Fast Jag shock

Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa caused a surprise by setting the fastest time in testing this morning (Friday) at Valencia. The Spaniard dropped into the 1m13s for the first time, setting a best time of 1m13.20s

This put him just ahead of the 2001-spec Williams of Antonio Pizzonia, although observers noted that the Jaguar R3 was almost certainly on new tyres. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was third quickest and had a remarkable escape.

The rear wing parted company with his A23 at 195mph on the approach to the fast fourth-gear first corner. Somehow he managed to avoid contact with the barriers and came to a halt in a cloud of dust.

There were three other red flags during the session. Alex Yoong spun his Minardi, Juan Pablo Montoya stopped out on track with a hydraulic problem and Anthony Davidson had an off in a 2001-spec BAR in which he was experimenting with suspension settings.

Testing continues this afternoon.

Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar M 1m13.20s 55
Antonio Pizzonia Williams-BMW* M 1m13.37s 40
Heinz-Harald Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth B 1m13.48s 17
Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda B 1m13.57s 41
Olivier Panis BAR-Honda B 1m13.74s 30
Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m13.82s 44
Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda* B 1m14.17s 49
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m14.21 23
Mark Webber Minardi-Asiatech M 1m16.51 18
Alex Yoong Minardi-Asiatech* M 1m17.86s 28

M = Michelin
B = Bridgestone
* denotes 2001 car