Bourdais fastest on final test day before Brazil

The teams head to Brazil for the opening round of the series on March 31 and completed their final running on the second of two day's testing at the British Grand Prix venue. Webber was easily the quickest man on the track on day one, but Bourdais - who has shifted French equipes for this year, from the Prost Junior squad to Jean-Paul Driot's DAMS outfit - went faster on Tuesday with a lap almost half a second ahad of Webber's best from Monday.

Once again the unpredictable Silverstone weather afforded the teams both wet and dry running, with rain in the morning and a much brighter afternoon session. The warmer afternoon meant for faster lap times and Webber was never far away from Bourdais with his Super Nova team mate, Mario Haberfeld finishing the day in third place. After electrical problems had left him in 10th place on Monday, the Brazilian was pleased with his performance, but was sure he could have gone quicker.

"On the last set of tyres we were a bit unlucky," said Haberfeld, "because on my first lap someone came out in front of me in the pit-lane. Then on the second lap, I was four tenths quicker up until Club [corner], but I got too close to the driver in front of me and spun."

British hopes for the title this year rest firmly on the shoulders of Darren Manning and Justin Wilson and both continued their run of good pre-season form by finishing in fourth and fifth places respectively.

Reigning British Formula 3 Champion Antonio Pizzonia rounded out the top six and after only a handful of outings in his Petrobras Jr Lola, the Brazilian was confident he was beginning to find the limits of the car.

"I now feel that I am finding the limits," he said. "On the last set of tyres I think I could have done a little bit better, but I made a small mistake, which prevented me going quicker. I am happy to be improving all the time and hopefully I can also improve a little more in qualifying in Brazil, then I will be ready for the race."

Pizzonia's team mate and Italian F3000 champion, Ricardo Sperafico was seventh despite clutch problems and was closely followed by Nordic Racing's Tomas Enge.

Dutchman Bas Leinders occupied ninth spot for the second day while Minardi Junior driver David Saelens slipped from third place to prop up the bottom of the top 10.


Sebastien Bourdais, DAMS, 1m36.326s
Mark Webber, Super Nova, 1m36.444s
Mario Haberfeld, Super Nova, 1m36.593s
Darren Manning, Arden, 1m36.798s
Justin Wilson, Nordic, 1m36.834s
Antonio Pizzonia, Petrobras, 1m36.871s
Ricardo Sperafico, Petrobras, 1m36.983s
Tomas Enge, Nordic, 1m37.252s
Bas Leinders, KTR, 1m37.268s
David Saelens, European Minardi Junior, 1m37.342s
Giorgio Pantano, Astromega, 1m37.468s
Enrique Toccacelo, Coloni, 1m37.470s
Fabrizio Gollin, Coloni, 1m37.501s
Patrick Freisacher, Red Bull Junior Team, 1m37.612s
Antonio Garcia, Red Bull Junior Team, 1m37.647s
Viktor Maslov, Arden, 1m37.964s
Andrea Piccini, European Minardi Junior, 1m38.007s
Nicolas Filliberti, Prost Junior Team, 1m38.078s
Gabriele Varano, Prost Junior Team, 1m38.251s
Joel Camathias, KTR, 1m38.374s
Derek Hill, DAMS, 1m38.744s
Jaime Melo, Durango Formula, 1m38.947s
Ananda Mikola, Astromega, 1m39.050s
Gabriele Lancieri, Durango Formula, 1m39.274s