JUNE 12, 2001
Trulli tops the times in Silverstone opener
ITALIAN Jarno Trulli was quickest in the first day of a three-day test at Silverstone as he aims to end his season of disappointment.
Trulli has demonstrated his potential again this year but has turned that into just seven points after reliability problems.
A retirement in Canada deepened his problems but the Jordan driver responded by posting a quickest lap time of one minute and 23.148 seconds as he outpaced McLaren test driver Darren Turner.
Turner, standing in for David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen, was marginally quicker than Williams tester Marc Gene, who also tested the team's spare car although he failed to post in a time.
Ricardo Zonta, in the second Jordan, was fourth fastest of the day as he continued to deputize for the injured Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
Ferrari's Luca Badoer was the fifth fastest as 10 teams tested at the Northamptonshire circuit, while Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa and Arrows' Johnny Herbert were left behind him in the times.
German Andre Lotterer was given another run-out in the Jaguar in the absence of the injured Eddie Irvine, and he was quicker than fellow test drivers Mark Webber (Benetton) and Patrick Lemarie (BAR).
Jenson Button struggled again for Benetton as he set the 11th fastest time while Prost handed a chance to Stephane Sarrazin.
The Frenchman was only quicker than the injured Nick Heidfeld, who completed just four laps for Sauber before being sent home.
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