FEBRUARY 12, 2001

Schumacher back on top at Kyalami

BMW-WILLIAMS driver Ralf Schumacher returned to the top of the timesheets at Kyalami on Monday as he enjoyed another trouble-free day in South Africa.

Schumacher, who topped the times on Saturday before British American Racing's Jacques Villeneuve got the better of him on Sunday, posted a quickest lap time of one minute and 19.517 during an 83-lap day.

"I started with tire compound work and moved onto aerodynamic testing and brakes," Schumacher said. "We have also worked on endurance runs and completed a race distance on the engine. We managed a trouble-free simulation - most of which was focused around temperatures."

Schumacher's team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya was less than one-hundredth of a second slower in second and the Colombian was encouraged by the Michelin tire work he performed.

Montoya said: "We did some work on mechanical set-up and focused on tire construction tests which was positive in terms of the options available to us in Melbourne.

"We also carried out a considerable amount of work on differentials. I'm pleased with the lap times I achieved after some good set-up work from the team."

Canadian Villeneuve was slowest of the three drivers on duty and he was over 1.5 seconds slower than the BMW-Williams pair.

Testing times from Monday at Kyalami:

POS DRIVER ENTRANT TIME 1  Ralf Schumacher BMW-Williams 1:19.517 2  Juan Pablo Montoya BMW-Williams 1:19.526 3  Jacques Villeneuve BAR 1:21.184

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