Villeneuve leads the way at Paul Ricard

The BMW driver finished with a best time of 1:25.379 around the 1E-B layout of the French track. The teams switched to the 5.2km circuit for today's session in order to prepare for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Today's test was extended by 10 minutes after the session was halted following a bizarre incident in which the pit straight's sprinklers, used to water the track artificially, started working, drenching the track.

Renault's Heikki Kovalainen, whose team had finished on top of the times on the previous two days, was second fastest, over three tenths behind Villeneuve. World champion Fernando Alonso finished his programme early and left the circuit after 63 laps.

Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett took over from McLaren's race drivers as the team continued with their preparations ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. De la Rosa was third fastest after 120 laps, with Paffett down in eighth.

The Toyota team continued putting miles in the B-spec car the Japanese squad will race for the first time at the Monaco Grand Prix. After Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli carried out testing duties on the first two days, testers Ricardo Zonta and Olivier Panis took over.

The day was not trouble-free for the Toyota duo, however, as both men caused a red flag each around lunch time. There were a total of four red flags today, not including the sprinkler's incident.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa covered only three laps before his engine let go very early in the morning. With rain predicted for the day, Ferrari decided not to replace the engine and instead left the track to test at their Fiorano circuit.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time      Laps
 1.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber           (M)  1:25.379  125
 2.  Kovalainen    Renault              (M)  1:25.736  121
 3.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:25.834  120
 4.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber           (M)  1:25.931   97
 5.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  1:26.003   63
 6.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  1:26.172   91
 7.  Zonta         Toyota               (B)  1:26.261  101
 8.  Paffett       McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:26.443   99
 9.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  1:26.498   44
10.  Jani          Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  1:26.668  103
11.  Panis         Toyota               (B)  1:27.037   82
12.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  no time     3

All Timing Unofficial