Montoya takes over testing duties

JPM 2nd fastest
By Andrew Hooper
May 3 2002

At the Valencia circuit BMW WilliamsF1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya took over from test driver Antonio Pizzonia on the 3rd day of testing. Montoya would finish the day 2nd, in a day that was cut short but heavy rain in the afternoon.


	Valencia Test 02:05:2002 Day Three of Four

	Day three of testing at Valencia would see Juan Pablo Montoya replace Antonio Pizzonia. Juan Pablo's best time was a lap of 1m:12.318, after completing sixty seven laps. Montoya would finish second to McLaren's David Coulthard, who set the fastest lap of the day with a 1m:10.811. "The morning session was helpful running several sets of tyres for Michelin", said Tim Newton, WilliamsF1 Test team manager. The days testing would see the teams having to abandon their test schedules with heavy showers hitting the circuit. Despite the wet weather Juan Pablo was to take the opportunity to test rain-tyres. In the wet conditions Juan Pablo completed only eight laps. For Coulthard, after his fifth fastest time on Wednesday, his time would see him not only beat Montoya but also his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. Raikkonen was fourth fastest, just two tenths of a second slower than the Renault of Italian Jarno Trulli, who completed 45 laps for the rapidly improving team. Renault test driver, Fernando Alonso, was fifth fastest working on a new traction control system and was able to test the new design in the wet during the afternoon session. Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was more than two seconds off the pace in sixth. For the Jaguar team their troubles continued with both drivers considerably off the pace. Pedro de la Rosa was seventh and Eddie Irvine was the slowest driver of the day.

	Driver Team/Engine Times Lap(s) 01. David Coulthard - McLaren - 1:10.811 - 62 02. Juan Pablo Montoya - Williams - 1:12.318 - 67 03. Jarno Trulli - Renault - 1:12.401 - 46 04. Kimi Raikkonen - McLaren - 1:12.670 - 60 05. Fernando Alonso - Renault - 1:12.710 - 57 06. Nick Heidfeld - Sauber - 1:13.147 - 96 07. Pedro De La Rosa - Jaguar - 1:13.206 - 34 08. Eddie Irvine - Jaguar - 1:14.292 - 43