Williams Duo Fastest at Paul Ricard - Day One

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and test driver Marc Gene topped the timesheets on the first day of this week's testing at the Paul Ricard circuit in Southern France.

Williams driver Montoya got back to work today following his disappointing Austrian Grand Prix, where he retired with an engine problem while he was leading the race.

The Colombian, who concentrated on set-up work for the Monaco Grand Prix, completed a total of 89 laps and finished more than half a second ahead of Spaniard Gene, the busiest man on track with 97 laps at the wheel of the BMW-powered FW25.

The McLaren team were also in action with two drivers today. Austrian Alex Wurz was third quickest with the MP4-17D. The test driver will be the man in charge of debutting the new MP4-18 tomorrow.

Pedro de la Rosa was the second McLaren driver at work today at Paul Ricard, the Spanish tester finishing at the bottom of the times after 96 laps.

Frenchman Olivier Panis was the only man on track for the Toyota team, who continued working on improving their reliability. Panis, who has retired from five of the six races so far this year, finished as fourth fastest with the TF103 chassis.

Testing at Paul Ricard continues tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:12.089 89 2. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:12.672 97 3. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:13.135 78 4. Panis Toyota (M) 1:13.724 67 5. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:13.876 96 All Timing Unofficial

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