Barcelona test, day 1: Bruni on top

Bruni, who was quickest at the previous Estoril test, was behind the wheel of a Coloni Motorsport Lola once again and managed to go two tenths of a second clear of Tomas Scheckter and Zsolt Baumgartner.

Scheckter was testing for Arden Team Russia along with Brazilian Rodrigo Sperafico, and both managed to complete 60 laps. French ace Sebastien Bourdais will drive for the team on the final day of the test tomorrow (Friday).

Arden team boss Christian Horner said: "Tomas and Rodrigo acquitted themselves well. Considering Rodrigo hadn't been in a car for five months, he was very good. Tomas was equally impressive."

Baumgartner was having his first run for champions Nordic Racing, but it was the other car the team ran that was the main focus of interest. Warren Hughes was at the wheel of the new F3000 car for next year, the Lola B2/50, which was having its maiden run at a race circuit (For the story of the new car's first test click here).

Ulsterman Richard Lyons turned out for Coloni, while British Formula 3 series race winner Nicolas Kiesa made his F3000 debut for Team Astromega. His running was limited by gearbox problems in the afternoon.


1 Gianmaria Bruni, Coloni, 1m32.2s
2 Tomas Scheckter, Arden, 1m32.4s
3 Zsolt Baumgartner, Nordic, 1m32.4s
4 Rodrigo Sperafico, Arden, 1m32.7s
5 Warren Hughes, Nordic, 1m33.2s*
6 Richard Lyons, Coloni, 1m33.5s
7 Nicolas Kiesa, Astromega, 1m35.0s

* Running in new Lola B2/50