Zonta Finishes Barcelona Test on Top - Final Day

Brazilian Toyota driver Ricardo Zonta finished on top of the times on the final day of this week's official testing session at the Barcelona circuit in Spain, where all Formula One teams except Jordan and Minardi were in action.

Zonta, at the wheel of the TF104B car, set a quickest time of 1:14.975 after a massive 144 laps to finish two tenths of a second in front of Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia in the first of the Williams.

"We have to be able to do more than 270km on one set of tyres, so that's what we've been looking to achieve today," said Zonta. "I haven't noticed too much of a decrease on the performance of this year's tyres. From what I've seen, they look strong from the first lap, and they're just more consistent and very stable on the long runs.

"I am greatly impressed that we have been able to complete almost 150 laps in just one day and of course to set such a competitive lap time."

Pizzonia, testing interim components for the 2005 car, had a productive day and covered nearly 100 laps as he continued working alongside Australian teammate Mark Webber, sixth fastest today.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, making his debut with the Sauber team, posted a promising third quickest time of the day as he acclimatised to the C23 car from the Swiss squad. The former World Champion took over from Brazilian Felipe Massa, quickest yesterday, and completed 96 laps.

"My first day of testing with Sauber went really well," said Villeneuve. "I had spent enough time in the factory for the seat fitting, so I felt immediately comfortable in the car. I did a lot of laps today and the times were good. In addition, the car ran absolutely reliable, we had no technical problems whatsoever.

"So it was really a very productive first day. We worked on the set-up mainly to further adapt the C23 to the Michelin tyres. We have a good basis and I am confident that we can continue this work in a positive way during our next test in Jerez."

Pedro de la Rosa, replacing Alexander Wurz, joined the test for today's session and worked for the McLaren team alongside Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, who completed his first testing programme as a McLaren driver. Spaniard de la Rosa was fourth quickest while Montoya finished in fifth.

Austrian Christian Klien and Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi wrapped up the Red Bull team's first test after Bjorn Wirdheim cancelled his scheduled test following his decision to leave the team yesterday. Klien was the quickest of the Red Bull drivers, outpacing Liuzzi by over a tenth of a second.

Spaniard Marc Gene was the only Ferrari driver in action today after Luca Badoer completed his work on Thursday. Gene covered 111 laps at the wheel of the F2004 and finished down in eighth position.

Renault drivers Franck Montagny and Giancarlo Fisichella were 10th and 11th fastest respectively as they completed the French squad's work for the week.

"My running this week has been fully focused on 2005, with the car set-up, electronics and tyres," explained Montagny. "We didn't do many laps on the second day as we were focusing on the electronics, but otherwise, I think we have made some good steps forward in our understanding of the tyres and set-up for next year.

"There is lots of data to analyse, and it was a good beginning to our 2005 season."

The BAR-Honda team were the only ones with three drivers in action today, as Jenson Button tested the interim 2005 car while Takuma Sato and Enrique Bernoldi worked with last season's 006. The Honda-powered trio finished at the bottom of the times.

The Michelin-shod teams are scheduled to carry out a wet weather test behind closed doors tomorow. Formula One's next testing session will start next Tuesday at the Jerez circuit.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:14.975 147 2. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:15.174 98 3. Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:15.219 96 4. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:15.419 85 5. Montoya McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:15.502 56 6. Webber Williams-BMW (M) 1:15.513 34 7. Klien Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:15.532 56 8. Gene Ferrari (B) 1:15.652 111 9. Liuzzi Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:15.661 86 10. Montagny Renault (M) 1:16.435 97 11. Fisichella Renault (M) 1:16.571 104 12. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:16.736 54 13. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:16.738 86 14. Bernoldi BAR-Honda (M) 1:20.066 44 All Timing Unofficial

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