Thursday September 16th, 2004

Japanese driver Takuma Sato topped the timesheets on the third session of this week's testing at the Silverstone circuit, on a day where Canadian Jacques Villeneuve impressed and Jarno Trulli tested for the Toyota team for the first time.

Sato set a quickest time of 1:17.397 while Villeneuve, on his second day of testing for the Renault team, finished as third fastest less than a tenth of a second off the pace of the BAR-Honda driver. The pair were split by McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, second quickest today.

Villeneuve outpaced Renault's test driver Franck Montagny by over a second.

"Today was another step forward as I continued learning about the car," said Villeneuve. "This morning was quite difficult as I was still moving about in my seat, and therefore could not feel the car's handling as well as I needed to, but we solved the problem.

"We made some initial set-up changes this afternoon and things looked positive, I was able to attack in the car and I am pleased with the time we set. The team has given me a great welcome this week, and I am very pleased with how the last two days have gone."

Italian Trulli, who was confirmed as a Toyota driver today, made his debut with the Japanese squad and posted the fifth quickest time after 83 laps. The Italian was pleased with his new team.

"I've arrived at Toyota a bit earlier than I expected, but in Formula One you have to be ready for anything, and this is what sometimes happens," said Trulli. "The Toyota team has given me a splendid welcome and we've already started to work well together in our first day of testing.

"It's also nice to be working again with Mike Gascoyne, who is an excellent engineer. It's still too early to judge the car. I've found some very good, positive aspects to the package, while there are parts which can still be improved. But I think everyone in the team knows the problems which require work.

"All the team's drivers will work well together with the rest of the team to work on improving the car's speed for the future. There's a good atmosphere and a nice bunch of people and it's good to get started early in preparation for 2005."

Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi was back behind the wheel of a Formula One car for the first time since 2002 as he tested for the BAR-Honda team.

The 25-year old Brazilian, who has been competing in the World Series by Nissan championship since he left Grand Prix racing, worked alongside Sato and finished at the bottom of the times after only 11 laps.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine         Tyres  Time     Laps
 1.  Sato          BAR-Honda            (M)  1:17.397   82
 2.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:17.400   94
 3.  Villeneuve    Renault              (M)  1:17.433   66
 4.  Gene          Williams-BMW         (M)  1:17.813   88
 5.  Trulli        Toyota               (M)  1:17.911   83
 6.  Davidson      BAR-Honda            (M)  1:17.960   71
 7.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:18.401   93
 8.  Montagny      Renault              (M)  1:19.140   88
 9.  Briscoe       Toyota               (M)  1:19.147   84
10.  Bernoldi      BAR-Honda            (M)  1:21.351   11

All Timing Unofficial