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Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda completed a three-day, three-car test at
Silverstone today in preparation for next weekend's Spanish Grand
Prix. Jacques Villeneuve, Olivier Panis and Anthony Davidson worked
their way through a comprehensive programme of engine, gearbox,
brake, tyre and general set-up work.
Anthony took to the track on Tuesday and Wednesday with Jacques
and Olivier joining the programme for Wednesday and Thursday. On day
1, Anthony spent the morning session setting up the car before
moving on to some gearbox exploration work in conjunction with an
engine development programme. At the end of the day he conducted a
brake evaluation and completed a total of 47 laps on the first day
of running. He posted a best time of 1:23.950 compared with Jenson
Button's 1.22.931.
On Wednesday, Jacques and Olivier picked up the reigns of the
engine and tyre programmes and put in 35 and 52 laps respectively.
Jacques' morning session was cut short by a gearbox related problem
but this was resolved in time for the afternoon when he was able to
complete a Bridgestone tyre test. Anthony spent the day in the 2001
BAR003 and clocked up 45 laps accumulating some valuable chassis
data. Olivier Panis posted the fastest time of the B.A.R drivers
with a 1:23.204 compared with Button's 1:21.922.
The programme was much the same for Jacques and Olivier today but
a sudden downpour gave them the opportunity to conduct some wet
running. Jacques completed 52 laps and Olivier 48, achieving best
lap times of 1.22.972 and 1.22.380 respectively. Ralf Schumacher
posted the fastest time of the day with a 1.22.152 but Olivier was
reasonably pleased to end the day 3rd.
At the end of today's running, Olivier Panis commented:
"We've worked our way through a number of items in order to
give us the best possible chance for the Spanish Grand Prix. We
continue to see step-by-step improvements and I hope we can see the
benefit of those in the next race."
Jacques Villeneuve commented: "We've done a lot of work to
prepare for the next race and Barcelona is a track we know well
through testing, but it won't be easy for us to repeat our Imola
performance.
"We're certainly not expecting a repeat of last year's
podium, but we have to do as good a job through the weekend as we
did in the last race so we can take advantage of any opportunities.
"I've won in Barcelona before and I like the circuit, but
it's hard on the brakes and understeer is a big problem. We're
expecting a tough race."
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