Lopez tops Barcelona times

Lopez lapped his CMS Performance entry, a satellite team of Coloni Motorsport, in 1m30.928s - just a fraction clear of Arden's Vitantonio Liuzzi, who shunted on Tuesday. The second Arden car of series rookie Robert Doornbos was third fastest.

Arden boss Christian Horner said: "We have now completed our preparation for the first race at Imola for which I think we are well prepared. Both drivers have done an excellent job here at Barcelona and Tonio has made a good recovery after his accident yesterday morning. Considering it was Robert's first time at this circuit, he showed immediate pace and looked competitive throughout the two days."

On the subject of Lopez's stunning testing pace, Horner commented: "We'll see at the first race. Coloni has won the winter testing championship, but it's the summer one which really counts."

Jeffrey van Hooydonk, who was fastest on Tuesday, was fourth quickest today. Recent Super Nova signing Patrick Friesacher was fifth fastest, ahead of category returnee Tomas Enge (Ma-Com Engineering). Friesacher's team-mate, British Formula 3 champion Alan van der Merwe, was ninth fastest today.


1 Jose Maria Lopez, CMS Performance, 1m30.928s
2 Vitantonio Liuzzi, Arden International, 1m30.971s
3 Robert Doornbos, Arden International, 1m31.167s
4 Jeffrey van Hooydonk, Coloni Motorsport, 1m31.221s
5 Patrick Friesacher, Super Nova Racing, 1m31.400s
6 Tomas Enge, Ma-Com Engineering, 1m31.798s