Villeneuve Leads the Way at Valencia - Day Six

Formula One testing resumed for the sixth consecutive day at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain, where British American Racing driver Jacques Villeneuve sprung a surprise by setting the quickest time of the session ahead of the Williams drivers.

Canadian Villeneuve, who was driving this year's Honda-powered 004 chassis, finished the day almost three tenths of a second ahead of the fastest of the Williams, as the BAR team continued with the development of their new car. German Ralf Schumacher was second quickest, while teammate Juan Pablo Montoya was third with the other BMW-powered machine.

Villeneuve's teammate Olivier Panis and test driver Ryo Fukuda finished at the bottom of the timesheets, with the Japanese driving the third 004 chassis, which made its debut today.

The Arrows team, who were scheduled to continue testing again at Valencia today, could not run after the new A23 suffered a problem with the rear wing on Friday, with German Heinz-Harald Frentzen at the wheel.

Testing at Valencia continues on Sunday, with Williams and BAR on track.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:12.967 90 2. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:13.254 112 3. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:13.441 63 4. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:14.446 32 5. Fukuda BAR-Honda (B) 1:14.646 99 All Timing Unofficial

Visit Atlas F1's Testing Center for further information