Wurz Breaks Barcelona Track Record

McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz today broke the Barcelona track record as he continued to top the times on the second day of testing at the Spanish circuit.

The Austrian, always very fast in testing at Barcelona, set a quickest time of 1:16.348, lapping 16 hundreds of a second quicker than the previous benchmark, set by World Champion Michael Schumacher during qualifying for this year's Spanish Grand Prix.

Wurz, testing new components for the 2003 McLaren, was a massive two seconds faster than Briton David Coulthard, who joined the test today replacing compatriot Darren Turner at the wheel of the second McLaren.

The Williams team also joined the programme today, working with Spanish Marc Gene and Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, who returned to work after testing for the Jaguar team at Barcelona two weeks ago. Gene was the quickest of the two, just outpacing Pizzonia after 48 laps.

Toyota test drivers Ryan Briscoe and Stephane Sarrazin continued working with the TF102B, the Japanese team's intermediary car, which incorporates next season's RVX-03 engine and a new seven-speed gearbox. Australian Briscoe was more than half a second faster than his French teammate, who was the man in charge of driving the updated car.

"Having completed our data acquisition programme this morning, we then focused on some general set-up work in preparation for the Japanese Grand Prix next weekend," said Briscoe. "This included aerodynamic comparisons that gave rather satisfying results.

"It has been a very productive day for me and up to now everything went according to plan. Hopefully we will complete our programme on the same note tomorrow."

British American Racing driver Ryo Fukuda got behind the wheel of the Formula One car for the first time since April, the Japanese driver posting the slowest time of the day.

Testing at Barcelona resumes tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.348 71 2. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:18.462 39 3. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:18.798 48 4. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:18.804 35 5. Briscoe Toyota (M) 1:20.224 26 6. Sarrazin Toyota (M) 1:20.840 26 7. Fukuda BAR-Honda (B) 1:21.737 70 All Timing Unofficial

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