Wednesday February 9th, 2000

By Michele Lupini, South Africa

Ralf Schumacher set the quickest lap, at 1:28.892 in the BMW Williams, at Kyalami testing late today in drying conditions, after a damp day's testing. He completed 64 laps in the process, setting his time on grooved tyres, although track conditions were far from ideal.

Second fastest was Jacques Villeneuve in the BAR Honda, at 1:30.924, also on dry tyres completing 57 laps, while Jenson Button in the second Williams was third with a fastest of 1:37.047 in 39 laps.

Both the BAR Honda and BMW-Williams teams concentrated on component testing and evaluation, without any significant technical problems.

The wet conditions did prove to have its pitfalls though - Jacques Villeneuve having an off during a long stint in the morning, ending in the gravel trap and nudging the tyre barrier. Jenson Button had a moment later in the afternoon, going straight on into the gravel on the last corner before the pits precluding any dry rubber running for him at the end of the day.

Kyalami has been experiencing a wet week, with floods causing chaos in Johannesburg on Monday and cloudy conditions today. The teams have made the best of the conditions though and are hoping for better weather as the week continues. The forecast is for better conditions tomorrow and a clear weekend. It is likely that teams will use Friday, originally mooted as a rest day, to test after all.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team          Time      Laps
 1.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW  1:28.892   64 
 2.  Villeneuve    BAR-Honda     1:30.924   57 
 3.  Button        Williams-BMW  1:37.047   39 

Kyalami's best time in 1999: 1:20.993 (R. Schumacher, Williams-Supertec)