Renault set impressive pace

Renault test driver Franck Montagny set the pace on the final day of testing at Jerez today.

The Frenchman continued his team’s good work following their victory in the opening grand prix of the season in Australia last weekend, lapping in a time of one minute 18.261 seconds in the new R25 challenger.

Montagny went quicker than the BAR of British driver Anthony Davidson after completing 93 laps of the Spanish circuit, which was wet in the morning following overnight rain.

Renault’s chief test engineer Christian Silk said: “We concluded our short session in Jerez with a productive day’s work.

“As soon as the circuit had dried, we were able to run trouble-free and to take a good step forward with our tyre development.

“We mainly looked at solutions for the coming races, and were once again pleased with the performance and promise of the Michelin tyres.”

Heikki Kovalainen – a GP2 series driver – was fifth quickest in the second Renault he was piloting as part of the Renault driver development programme.

Enrique Bernoldi clocked the third quickest time in the modified version of last year’s Honda-powered BAR, with the Williams of Antonio Pizzonia fourth fastest.

Luca Badoer continued to work with Ferrari’s new F2005 model, finishing up sixth, ahead of Marc Gene in the Italian team’s F2004M car – the car in which Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello raced last weekend.