APRIL 15, 2004

Lopez tops times in Barcelona

Argentina's rising star Jose Maria Lopez set the fastest time of this week's Formula 3000 testing in Barcelona, although his best time was only a few hundredths of a second faster than Vitantonio Liuzzi in his Arden International entry. Robert Doornbos, Arden's second driver was third quickest with a lap which was two-tenths slower than Liuzzi's best.

Lopez, at the wheel of a Coloni Motor Sport entry, was the fastest of the four Coloni drivers, although Jeffery Hooydonk was just behind Doornbos. Super Nova Racing's Patrick Friesacher was fifth quickest ahead of Tony Schmidt's MaCon entry and Jan Heylen in his Astromega car.

Completing the top 10 in the 17-car test were Yannick Schroeder (Durango), Alan van der Merwe (SuperNova) and Enrico Toccacelo (BCN).