Thursday January 31st, 2002

Nick Heidfeld and Sauber teammate Felipe Massa set an impressive pace on the eleventh day of testing at the Catalunya circuit in Spain.

German Heidfeld, who had already impressed in the previous two days at the wheel of the new Ferrari-powered C21, was the only man capable of running within the 1:17s bracket, finishing nearly a whole second ahead of Brazilian Massa, who was also driving a C21 chassis.

"This has been a satisfactory test for us," said Heidfeld. "Today I concentrated on set-up work for qualifying in Melbourne, and despite a minor driveshaft problem this morning we were able to do more work than yesterday.

"The car was well balanced in qualifying trim and it's always nice to be fastest, but what will really count is what happens at the first race."

Spaniard Marc Gene and Juan Pablo Montoya followed the two Saubers, the Colombian driving the 2002-spec FW24. Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia was eighth quickest at the wheel of the third Williams.

Toyota wrapped up today a four-day programme at the Spanish circuit, where the Japanese squad worked with two cars on track for the first time this year. Allan McNish was quicker than teammate Mika Salo, who finished today's session more than four tenths of a second behind the Scot.

"We worked again on aerodynamics and did a small tyre test today," said McNish. "We have made some improvements, which gave me more feeling and confidence with the car, so I am quite happy and looking forward to the next test."

Japanese driver Takuma Sato enjoyed a promising day, setting the seventh quickest time ahead of teammate Giancarlo Fisichella who, driving the 2002 car, finished more than seven tenths behind the rookie.

Italian Jarno Trulli got his first taste of the new Renault R202, while Spaniard Fernando Alonso made his debut as the French team's test driver.

Trulli ended his first run in the new machine ninth quickest, and Renault technical director Mike Gascoyne said the team were pleased with his performance.

"It was Jarno's first run in the new car and his first impressions were very good," Gascoyne said. "He managed to run over 40 laps and acclimatised to the car extremely well."

Testing at Barcelona continues on Friday.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine      Tyres  Time     Laps
 1.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Petronas  (B)   1:17.891  73
 2.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas  (B)   1:18.605  67
 3.  Gene          Williams-BMW     (M)   1:19.233  63
 4.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)   1:19.680  64
 5.  McNish        Toyota           (M)   1:19.831  72
 6.  Salo          Toyota           (M)   1:20.245  35
 7.  Sato          Jordan-Honda     (B)   1:20.351  69
 8.  Pizzonia      Williams-BMW     (M)   1:20.557  65
 9.  Trulli        Renault          (M)   1:20.834  44
10.  Fisichella    Jordan-Honda     (B)   1:21.091  36
11.  Alonso        Renault          (M)   1:21.440  50

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 17:12:16 GMT