By Huw Alban
July 1 2002

OrangeArrows wrapped up it’s four day test at Barcelona with a convincing second spot on the timesheets from Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Finally some detail has emerged about what the team were looking at for this test, and top of the list were preparations for Silverstone. Throughout the four days the team worked on suspension set-up, aerodynamic improvements, tyre testing for Bridgestone, engine development for Cosworth, software improvements, and work on the A23’s braking systems.

Chief Race Engineer, Graham Taylor, came away from Barcelona very pleased with the work completed. “We’ve completed what’s been quite a comprehensive test here,” he said via the Arrows website. “We managed to get through most of our programme and made some good progress. Over the four days, we’ve been working with Cosworth on engine development and we also tried some new suspension systems on the car. We managed to get a lot of useful information on tyres as we ran with a couple of different compounds, which is all valuable for Silverstone. We had a few minor problems running earlier in the test, but Heinz was able to get in some good mileage. All in all, a lot of hard work which I think we can be pleased with.”


Friday’s times from Barcelona:

1. Alex Würz - McLaren - 1'17"597 - 96 laps
2. Heinz-Harald Frentzen - Arrows - 1'18"258 - 64 laps
3. Jenson Button - Renault - 1'18"672 - 63 laps
4. Kimi Räikkönen - McLaren - 1'18"695 - 30 laps
5. Antônio Pizzonia - Williams - 1'18"740 - 102 laps
6. Marc Gené - Williams - 1'18"962 - 139 laps
7. Pedro de la Rosa - Jaguar - 1'19"689 - 65 laps
8. Mark Webber - Jaguar - 1'19"724 - 56 laps