Gene 3rd in rain affected first French practice


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By Andrew Hooper
July 2 2004

BMW WilliamsF1 driver Marc Gene would finish in 3rd in rain affected first practice session for the French Grand Prix. Team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya would set no time after having crashed in the wet conditions. Marc was able to set a time during the dry part of the session.

   
French GP Friday 1st Practice
 
With the BMW WilliamsF1 team replacing the injured Ralf Schumacher with Marc Gene and the McLaren debuting their new MP4-19B the first practice session for the French Grand Prix got under way. There would be the usual flood of cars taking to the track to do their installation lap headed by Jordan's Timo Glock. There was a strong chance of rain during the session.

Marc GeneMarc Gene would take his place in car number four, looking to make an impression on the team such that he might get a race seat in 2005. Michael Schumacher would quickly set a time of 1m:16.291 with just six minutes of the session run. He would follow this up with a 1m:15.713.

Team-mate Rubens Barrichello would also be out early looking to set a time. he would sea time of 1m:16.327. Rubens would move into first with a time of 1m:15.487. Jordan's Pantano would set the third fastest time.

Marc Gene would also be out and he would set a time of 1m:19.348 after a cautious lap. This would see him in third. With forty minutes of the session left the track would be empty. With all the drivers having set a time Ferrari was well ahead of the other teams.

But as the half way point of the session approached rain would start to fall, helping to explain why Ferrari sent their drivers out so early. But as it eased several drivers would take to the track, including Jordan's Nick Heidfeld, Gene, BAR's Anthony Davidson, and Jaguar's third driver Bjorn Wirdheim.

Their times would be ten seconds per lap slower with the rain making track conditions very difficult. Davidson would set a time of 1m:40.823. The times so far would have Rubens leading Michael Schumacher, Gene, Glock, Pantano, Heidfeld, Bruni, and Linders. They were the only drivers who had set a dry lap time.

Juan Pablo would take to the track and his session would quickly turn bad when he was to spin and leave the track and end up in the gravel hitting a tyre wall. This would see his session come to an end. Toyota's Ricardo would set a time of 1m:35.568, only 20 seconds off Barrichello's dry-weather pace.

With twenty minutes left in the session the rain had stopped falling. BAR's Takuma Sato sets a time of 1m:34.438. It looks like the times set during this session are going to be of little meaning. With the sun coming out Zonta would set a time of 1m:30.837. But around half the drivers had yet to set a time.

Sato would set a time of 1m:30.092, with team-mate Davidson going quicker with a 1m:30.083. These times would see them still down in ninth and tenth. With ten minutes left in the session BAR's Jenson Button would set the fastest wet weather time with a 1m:28.317. Zonta was down to a 1m:29.085.

Neither McLaren or Renault had sent their drivers out. Jaguar's Christian Klien would set a time of 1m:29.626. Trulli would set a time very late in the session with a 1m:39.392. So the session would come to an end with gene finishing in third and Juan Pablo having set no time through his spin.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps

1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:15.487 4
2. M. Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:15.713 + 0.226 4
3. Gene WilliamsF1-BMW (M) 1:19.348 + 3.861 14
4. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:19.428 + 3.941 17
5. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:19.466 + 3.979 12
6. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:20.531 + 5.044 12
7. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:21.248 + 5.761 13
8. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:22.267 + 6.780 11
9. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:26.552 + 11.065 17
10. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:26.757 + 11.270 5
11. Panis Toyota (M) 1:27.449 + 11.962 4
12. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:28.317 + 12.830 5
13. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:29.085 + 13.598 18
14. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:29.626 + 14.139 8
15. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:29.877 + 14.390 12
16. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:30.092 + 14.605 10
17. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:30.204 + 14.717 17
18. Trulli Renault (M) 1:39.392 + 23.905 4
19. Montoya WilliamsF1-BMW (M) No Time 3
20. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) No Time 1
21. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) No Time 1
22. Alonso Renault (M) No Time 3
23. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) No Time 1
24. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) No Time 3
25. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) No Time 1
 
 
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