Thursday January 17th, 2002

Finn Kimi Raikkonen lowered the Valencia track record by more than half a second on the fourth day of testing at the Spanish circuit on Thursday.

The young Finn, who drove the McLaren for the first time last week at the Barcelona circuit, set an astonishing 1:12.118 on lap 34 of the 94 that he completed in today's session for the Woking-based outfit, being more than six tenths of a second quicker than the previous record, set by teammate David Coulthard in May last year.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, the busiest man on track today with 106 laps, was unable to match the pace of the new McLaren driver, and despite being second quickest with the Jordan, Fisichella was more than seven tenths of a second slower than Raikkonen.

Ralf Schumacher joined the Valencia test today for the Williams team, who were again working with three 2001-spec cars. The German was the quickest of the Williams trio, with teammate Juan Pablo Montoya in sixth and test driver Marc Gene in seventh position.

The British American Racing team began testing today at the Spanish circuit, the Honda-powered team also with three drivers. Frenchman Olivier Panis was the fastest with the older of the new 004 chassis, while teammate Jacques Villeneuve worked at the wheel of the second 004 chassis, setting the eighth quickest time of the day.

"The car felt good in the morning and I was getting to grips with it quite well," said Villeneuve. "This afternoon we had a minor problem and we lost some time but right now it's just a case of seeing how the car reacts and it seems to be reacting quite well.

"Mechanically, the car works much better than last year. It reacts to changes so that's good and it feels good to drive. We just need to wait until we get the Melbourne aerodynamic package to see how fast we're really going to go."

The Toyota team continued with their progress as they prepare for their Formula One debut, still with Mika Salo at the wheel of the TF102. The Finn lost some track time due to some mechanical problems in the morning but was pleased after completing 39 laps and setting the ninth quickest time.

"After a slow start to the day we got some good running in the afternoon," said Salo at the end of the day. "We are definitely heading in the right direction and we made some improvements, for example, in our launch and traction control."

Australian Mark Webber, who is believed to be one of the favourites to drive for the Minardi team this season, debuted for the Italian squad today, driving alongside Christijan Albers. Webber was nearly 2.5 seconds quicker than the Dutch driver after 48 laps.

Testing will continue at Valencia on Friday.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine         Tyres  Time     Laps   
 1.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)    1:12.118  94
 2.  Fisichella    Jordan-Honda        (B)    1:12.828 106
 3.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW        (M)    1:13.323  60
 4.  Sato          Jordan-Honda        (B)    1:13.569 104
 5.  Panis         BAR-Honda           (B)    1:14.300  81
 6.  Montoya       Williams-BMW        (M)    1:14.434  22
 7.  Gene          Williams-BMW        (M)    1:14.639  64
 8.  Villeneuve    BAR-Honda           (B)    1:14.669  50
 9.  Salo          Toyota              (M)    1:15.279  39   
10.  Davidson      BAR-Honda           (B)    1:15.572  60
11.  Webber        Minardi-European    (M)    1:16.113  48
12.  Albers        Minardi-European    (M)    1:18.612  32
  
All Timing Unofficial

Published at 17:26:53 GMT