Saturday June 8th, 2002

By Will Gray

World Champion Michael Schumacher beat his Colombian rival Juan Pablo Montoya to the fastest time of the day on Saturday in the final practice session before qualifying for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix.

At an overcast and cool Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which suited Schumacher's Bridgestone tyres, the German Ferrari star completed the perfect preparation for the crucial qualifying hour with a lap time of 1:13.395.

Montoya, who has claimed two of the seven pole positions this season and is desperate to get top spot in Montreal, was 0.251 seconds slower than Schumacher after setting the early pace. Rubens Barrichello was third in the second Ferrari, but missed the final ten minutes of the session after going straight on at the chicane at turn nine and crashing into the wall.

Kimi Raikkonen put his McLaren-Mercedes up to fourth in the final minutes of the session, just moving ahead of Ralf Schumacher, who was more than a second slower than his brother Michael and eight tenths slower than teammate Montoya.

Briton David Coulthard was sixth in the second McLaren-Mercedes, with Brazilian sensation Felipe Massa and German Nick Heidfeld seventh and eighth respectively for the Sauber team.

Home favourite Jacques Villeneuve, of British American Racing Honda, claimed the ninth fastest time, just ahead of Jordan driver Giancarlo Fisichella, who is hoping to continue his past successes at the Montreal track this weekend.

The Renault team continued to struggle with Italian Jarno Trulli, who spun early in the session, and Briton Jenson Button managing just 14th and 15th spots, while Eddie Irvine continued his miserable time for Jaguar and stopped on the track at the end of the session to finish with the 21st fastest time.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Times                 
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari            (B)  1:13.395  213.906 km/h
 2.  Montoya       Williams BMW       (M)  1:13.646    +    0.251
 3.  Barrichello   Ferrari            (B)  1:14.243    +    0.848
 4.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:14.354    +    0.959
 5.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW       (M)  1:14.399    +    1.004
 6.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:14.720    +    1.325
 7.  Massa         Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:14.777    +    1.382
 8.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:14.791    +    1.396
 9.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda          (B)  1:14.843    +    1.448
10.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda       (B)  1:14.973    +    1.578
11.  Frentzen      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  1:15.018    +    1.623
12.  Panis         BAR Honda          (B)  1:15.057    +    1.662
13.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:15.208    +    1.813
14.  Bernoldi      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  1:15.326    +    1.931
15.  Trulli        Renault            (M)  1:15.344    +    1.949
16.  Button        Renault            (M)  1:15.426    +    2.031
17.  Salo          Toyota             (M)  1:15.584    +    2.189
18.  Sato          Jordan Honda       (B)  1:15.791    +    2.396
19.  McNish        Toyota             (M)  1:15.918    +    2.523
20.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:16.143    +    2.748
21.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:16.267    +    2.872
22.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:17.005    +    3.610

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 15:02:34 GMT

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