Thursday March 7th, 2002

Williams test driver Marc Gene continued to dominate for the third consecutive day of testing at the Silverstone circuit in England.

At the wheel of the FW23, the Spanish driver, who had topped the times on the previous two days, was more than 1.5 seconds faster then compatriot Fernando Alonso, who was again driving the Renault's B201 chassis.

"We completed some long runs today to test tyres for our technical partner, Michelin," said Williams's chief operations engineer Sam Michael. "We also managed to do some work on the brakes."

The Renault team today completed testing at the British track. Driving last year's chassis, Alonso concentrated on tyre development on behalf of Michelin, also conducting electronics work for the team.

"A very successful day to conclude our work at Silverstone," said Renault's technical director Mike Gascoyne. "Fernando completed the planned tyre programme, and Michelin and ourselves were very pleased with the results, which confirmed the benefits we had already seen in preparation for the Brazilian Grand Prix at the end of the month."

British American Racing driver Anthony Davidson was the other man on track today, the Briton finishing at the bottom of the times after 29 laps.

Testing at Silverstone continues on Friday.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine         Tyres  Time     Laps
 1.  Gene          Williams-BMW        (M)    1:23.115  78
 2.  Alonso        Renault             (M)    1:24.755  43
 3.  Davidson      BAR-Honda           (B)    1:26.425  29

All Timing Unofficial