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Valencia test, day 4: Jacques goes quickest

In the last day of testing before the Monaco Grand Prix, Jacques Villeneuve finished at the top of the timesheets in Valencia - but it was a close run thing with less than five hundredths of a second separating Villeneuve, Jordan's Jarno Trulli in second and the Sauber of Kimi Raikkonen in third

McLaren had completed their preparations on Thursday, so it was left to Sauber and Honda rivals BAR and Jordan to carry out development work for Bridgestone. At a cool Valencia track, the trio were testing a Monaco compound for the Japanese tyre manufacturer and seemed happy with the results - the nearest Michelin runner, Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams, was a further three tenths of a second back from Raikkonen's time in fourth.

The Colombian, along with Spanish test driver Marc Gene, completed the most laps at the circuit, as they continued to develop Williams' traction control devices. Montoya remains remarkably candid ahead of one of the highest profile Grands Prix on the Formula 1 calendar.

"In Valencia we have been testing a few new components for Monte Carlo and I think that it should be an interesting race for us," he said. "I don't really feel the special atmosphere of Monaco because - besides spending quite a lot of time there - at the end of the day when you are concentrating on your job, that is the most important thing."

Just behind Montoya in fifth was Jordan test driver Ricardo Zonta. The Brazilian was on a fast lap right at the end of the session, but when Jos Verstappen spun and brought out the red flags, Zonta had to abort. The EJ11 was the talk of the pitlane today (Friday) when it came out sporting a T-shaped fin on the nose of the car, seemingly right in the driver's line of vision.

Another car to sprout extra wings was Jordan's Honda stablemate BAR, whose Olivier Panis rounded out the top six times in Valencia. The BARs had an extra wing over the exhaust outlets, as teams try to eke out as much downforce for the Monaco street circuit as possible.

Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa was next up, followed by the man who replaced him at Arrows, Enrique Bernoldi. Jos Verstappen finished the test just behind his team mate with the ninth fastest time.

Jean Alesi's Prost was 10th quickest and the veteran Frenchman was hoping the aerodynamic tweaks on his AP04 should mean his car handles better on Monaco's twisty streets. "It's more important to have a driveable car in Monaco than a fast car," he said.

Gene posted the tenth fastest time with Andre Lotterer finishing the day at the bottom of the timesheets. However, it was the young German's first time in the Jaguar R2 and he was only half a second off Gene's fastest time.

The next test is scheduled to take place at Magny-Cours in France after the Monaco Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda B 1m13.12s 69
Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda B 1m13.14s 79
Kimi Raikkonen Sauber-Petronas B 1m13.17s 53
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m13.44s 92
Ricardo Zonta Jordan-Honda B 1m14.11s 72
Olivier Panis BAR-Honda B 1m14.13s 57
Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar M 1m14.54s 64
Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-AMT B 1m14.67s 49
Jos Verstappen Arrows-AMT B 1m14.78s 53
Jean Alesi Prost-Acer M 1m14.84s 62
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m14.88s 83
Andre Lotterer Jaguar M 1m15.43s 80

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