Friesacher sets testing pace
New Coloni signing Patrick Friesacher set a searing pace on the first day of testing at Barcelona, recording a lap three seconds faster than Sebastien Bourdais' pole position from the Spanish round earlier this year
Frenchman Yannick Schroeder was second quickest for Arden, while Friesacher's team-mate Zsolt Baumgartner was third. The Hungarian was more than a second down on the Austrian, but he was working on a race set-up while Friesacher ran the car in qualifying trim.
Coloni also had a third car present for Alessandro Piccolo. The Euro F3000 driver joined the team as part of its Italian 'Super test' and did a good job in an unfamiliar car to end up just 0.4s off Baumgartner.
Arden also ran three cars, with German F3 front runner Norbert Siedler setting the fifth best time in his first ever F3000 outing, just fractions slower than Piccolo. Jaroslav Janis, who competed in one F3000 race back in 2001, drove the car in the afternoon when conditions were slower, and was two seconds off the pace.
Patrick Friesacher Coloni 1m29.63s
Yannick Schroeder Arden 1m30.70s
Zsolt Baumgartner Coloni 1m30.87s
Alessandro Piccolo Coloni 1m31.26s
Norbert Siedler Arden 1m31.30s
Jaroslav Janis Arden 1m33.30s
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