14/01/2005
NEWS STORY
McLaren's alexander Wurz topped the timesheets on the final day of dry testing at Jerez de la Frontera. The spanish track will be artificially flooded over the weekend, to allow several Michelin teams to carry out wet-weather testing.
Conditions were ideal, with blue skies and temperatures touching 18 degrees C.
Wurz completed 102 laps, as did teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, though the Austrian out-paced the Colombian by over half a second.
In the latest round of the Heidfeld/Pizzonia head to head, the German once again had the upper hand, as the Brazilian's bad luck continued. Once again, Pizzonia encountered technical problems, this time suffering an oil leak, which kept him in the garage while track conditions were at the optimum.
Nonetheless, Antonio completed 125 laps, albeit 0.334s off his teammate's pace. Pizzonia focussed on traction control evaluation, in addition to carrying out a number of simulated starts. The Brazilian made a number of long runs as he evaluated tyres as well as working on set-ups and brake ducts. Heidfeld carried out similar duties, in addition to carrying out a full race simulation.
Yesterday's pace-setter, Ricardo Zonta, completed a staggering 162 laps, finishing the day 1.2s off the pace, but 0.7s ahead of teammate Jarno Trulli.
"Up to now, we're happy with the debut of the TF105," said Mike Gascoyne. "There has been a positive feeling from the drivers about the new car's handling, especially in relation to the rear end.
"All the feedback was in the direction we expected," he added, "confirming the data we had gathered in the wind tunnel. In terms of reliability this car gives a very good feeling too. As for performance, there is still a lot to come as we get used to how the new regulations affect how the car runs. But it's been a pretty good start."
Propping up the timesheets, yet again, was Ferrari's Marc Gene, who completed just 50 laps, and finished 2.4s off the pace.