Young duo impress in BAR testing

British duo James Rossiter and Adam Carroll have continued to impress with Formula One team BAR during testing at Valencia this week.

Rossiter, from Oxford, and Carroll, from Northern Ireland were joined by South African Alan van der Merwe at the Spanish circuit and were given the chance to show their ability and progress as the British-based team’s Young Driver Programme continued.

The trio first got a run out in a Formula One car in Jerez back in December as part of the project to help develop young driver talent, and each had two half-day sessions in last year’s Honda-powered car during the three-day testing event this week.

Carroll, a British Formula 3 driver, set the fastest time of all three drivers on Friday with a time of 1 minute 12.585 seconds and admits the dry surface made for a better experience.

“It’s been an enjoyable three days out in Valencia and we have benefited from the chance to run the car in dry conditions,” he said.

“It is a totally different experience to Jerez in December which was very wet and the car is so much faster.”

Rossiter, who also drives in British Formula 3, recorded a time of 1 minute 12.671 seconds on Thursday, but suffered a transmission problem with the car, which forced him to cut his session short.

“The event has been a good experience for all of us and it went very well,” Rossiter said.

“It was my first drive at Valencia so I spent much of the first session acclimatising myself with the car and the circuit.

“I felt very comfortable in the car and although I lost some running time due to a technical problem in the second session, I am happy with what I achieved this week.”

Leader of the young driver programme, Jock Clear, admitted to being impressed with the attitude and performance of the three drivers throughout the three-day event.

“For these young drivers to have a second chance in the car at this busy time for the team shows the level of commitment that BAR has made to this programme,” Clear said.

“With that in mind it is especially satisfying to see all three of them doing such a solid job both in and out of the car.

“They are clearly very committed to making the most of the opportunity and are working well with the engineers and mechanics.

“Their lap times have shown good progression and the outright pace has been very respectable.

“The Young Driver Programme will now focus on developing their talent as they continue with their 2005 racing season in other formulae.”

Meanwhile, the team continued to develop the 2005 car with Jenson Button and Takuma Sato being joined by test driver Anthony Davidson and Enrique Bernoldi in testing action over the three days this week.

Sato clocked the fastest time of 1 minute 10.477 seconds on Thursday with Button setting a time of 1 minute 10.601 seconds on Friday.