Tuesday January 22nd, 2002

McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz set on Tuesday a new track record at Barcelona, lapping quicker than ever before at the Spanish circuit.

The Austrian, driving last year's Mercedes-powered MP4-16 fitted with this year's gearbox, was seven thousands of a second quicker than the previous record, held by World Champion Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari since last year's qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Wurz, who completed 99 laps around the Catalan track, was exactly one second quicker than Scot David Coulthard, who continued working at the wheel of the new MP4-17 chassis, unveiled last Saturday. Coulthard was slightly faster than the third man on track, Nick Heidfeld.

The German was again at the wheel of the new Sauber C21, completing 54 laps as the Swiss squad continued with the development of the new machine, which will be officially launched next Friday. Heidfeld will be replaced tomorrow by teammate Felipe Massa, who will drive the C21 for the first time.

"Once again I enjoyed my stint at the wheel of the C21, and it continued to give me positive feelings," said Heidfeld. "I can tell that it is improvement on the C20 even at this early stage, and that it is going to be good car.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine         Tyres  Time     Laps
 1.  Wurz          McLaren-Mercedes    (M)    1:18.194  99
 2.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)    1:19.194  63
 3.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Petronas     (B)    1:19.290  54 

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 16:59:22 GMT