JANUARY 31, 2001
Alesi tops the times again in testing at the Circuit de Catalunya
JEAN ALESI topped the times for the second successive day in testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, as he completed Prost's four-day workout in Spain.
Alesi, who broke the circuit's lap record on Tuesday, completed work on the team's new Michelin tires and finished the day with a small aerodynamic test on Wednesday. The Frenchman's quickest lap was one minute and 19.415 seconds.
"The team has done a very positive job," said Prost's sporting director John Walton. "With all the hard work that has gone into building this car on time, we have covered a lot of mileage in the last week and the results we have seen look very promising."
Jordan driver Jarno Trulli was second quickest on Wednesday as he started a four-day test for the team. Italian Trulli tested the chassis set-up and added further mileage to new components as he set a best lap time of one minute and 20.089.
BMW-Williams' Ralf Schumacher was third quickest in the team's new FW23 car. The German driver recorded a quickest time of one minute and 20.570 seconds as he focused on the new technical changes to the car's set-up.
Arrows driver Jos Verstappen was third quickest, fractionally ahead of Jenson Button's Benetton and Schumacher's team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya, who ran in the team's FW22B car.
Montoya, who joined the team from the America-based Champ Car series in the closed season, practiced pit-stops for the first time and then went on to work on the team's Michelin tires. He revealed that the car also suffered a slight gearbox problem. The Colombian will get his first taste of the FW23 on Thursday.
Button's team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella was just behind Montoya in the times, while the Jaguars of Luciano Burti and Tomas Scheckter brought in the field.
Times after Wednesday's testing at Barcelona:
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