Friday January 25th, 2002

McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz topped the timesheets on the fifth day of testing at the Barcelona circuit, where the Austrian shattered the track's record for the second time this week.

Wurz, who drove an hybrid version of the 2001 McLaren, set a fastest time of 1:17.328, as the Woking-based team continued with their preparations ahead of the first race of the season in Australia. After completing 51 laps, Wurz was more than four tenths of a second quicker than Kimi Raikkonen.

The young Finn driver worked again at the wheel of the new Mercedes-powered MP4-17, also lapping below the track record, with a best time of 1:17.775 after 84 laps. The Williams and Jaguar teams joined the test today, the Grove-based squad working with their two test drivers Marc Gene and Antonio Pizzonia.

As Williams unveiled their new FW24 at Silverstone, Gene drove the 2001-spec car fitted with this year's BMW engine. The Spaniard finished ahead of Pizzonia, who drove last year's car too, but with the old engine.

Pedro de la Rosa was the only Jaguar driver on track, as the Ford-owned team continued working in order to solve the problems with the front wing of the new R3. The Spaniard was more than four seconds off Wurz's pace.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine         Tyres  Time     Laps
 1.  Wurz          McLaren-Mercedes    (M)    1:17.328  51
 2.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)    1:17.775  84
 3.  Gene          Williams-BMW        (M)    1:18.846  60
 4.  Pizzonia      Williams-BMW        (M)    1:19.211  67
 5.  De la Rosa    Jaguar-Cosworth     (M)    1:21.989  24
  
All Timing Unofficial

Published at 16:58:26 GMT