Pizzonia impressive in testing

Antonio Pizzonia did his bit to secure a Williams race seat for next season with an impressive testing performance today.

The Brazilian, briefly promoted from tester to the race team after Ralf Schumacher’s injury last season, has emerged as favourite to partner Mark Webber at Williams next year.

Anthony Davidson has been blocked from moving to Williams by current team BAR, leaving Pizzonia up against outsiders Nick Heidfeld and David Coulthard.

Pizzonia did his cause no harm by setting the second-quickest time in testing at Barcelona today, just short of Ricardo Zonta’s time in the Toyota but almost half-a-second faster than Webber.

Jacques Villeneuve enjoyed a productive day testing for his new team Sauber, setting the third-fastest time, while the McLaren pair of Pedro de la Rosa and Juan Pablo Montoya were fourth and fifth respectively.

BAR propped up the time sheets as they continue to work on their interim 2005 car – which compared to the 2004-spec machines being used by most of their rivals, is hampered by a new aerodynamic package.

Takuma Sato was 12th quickest, with Jenson Button a place further back and Enrique Bernoldi last of all.