JUNE 10, 1996

As Villeneuve tops Barcelona test

CANADIAN hero Jacques Villeneuve had a day and a half of testing at Barcelona last week as he prepared for his "home" Grand Prix this weekend in Montreal - at the circuit which is named after his father.

Pressure on the young French-Canadian will be intense, but he hopes to emulate his father's first visit to the track with a victory.

Villeneuve's best lap of the Spanish track was 1m22.39s, slightly faster than Williams test driver Jean-Christophe Boullion, who recorded a 1m22.57s. The pair - who each did a day and a half of running - completed a total of 210 laps and were well clear of the opposition in the hot sunny weather.

The closest challenger was Alain Prost who ran for McLaren all three days of the test, completing 112 laps with a best time of 1m24.47s. This was only marginally faster than both Sauber drivers: Heinz-Harald Frentzen doing two days of running (over 100 laps) for a best of 1m24.54s and Johnny Herbert who recorded a best of 1m24.62s on Thursday.

McLaren also ran David Coulthard (139 laps with a best of 1m25.14s) and Jan Magnussen (60 laps with a best of 1m26.00s).

Forti stayed on for just a day, running Luca Badoer for 33 laps. His best time was 1m26.71s.