Jerez Test - Day Three: 15 December.

Olivier Panis put McLaren back at the top of the timesheets as testing continued at Jerez today, marking the first time the Frenchman has held such a lofty position.


Panis clocked up a best lap of 1min 24.418secs in the course of 56 dry tours, beating Johnny Herbert's best effort from day two by almost a second. The former Prost driver was joined at the test by team-mate David Coulthard, but the Scot could only manage a lowly fifth - the first time he has been off the top of the times in head-to-head running since testing restarted earlier this month.


Herbert continued Jaguar's promising debut, taking a revised version of last season's Stewart chassis to third place behind Panis and Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello. The Brazilian improved significantly over his first outing at the circuit with his new team to run within half a second of the pacesetter as he completed a mammoth 102 lap session.


Between Herbert and Coulthard came the biggest surprise of the day, however, as Marc Gene planted the unsung Minardi in a spectacular fourth place. The Spaniard was just a tenth slower than the European GP winner and comfortably ahead of the second McLaren.


Gene also managed to overshadow the likes of Jacques Villeneuve (BAR) and Eddie Irvine (Jaguar), who both ran over a second from the ultimate pace. Indeed, Irvine was classified as low as tenth overall, behind rookie drivers Luciano Burti (Jaguar) and Bruno Junqueira (Williams). Pedro Diniz was ninth for Sauber.


The Brazilian's team-mate Mika Salo brought up the rear on day three, completing only seven laps after a problem with the development Sauber's hydraulic accumulator. He was separated from the rest of the field by a mixed experience group including Norberto Fontana and Max Wilson (Minardi) and Darren Manning (Williams).


Leading performances (15 December):


Olivier Panis McLaren-Mercedes 1min 24.418secs 56 laps

Rubens Barrichello Ferrari-Ferrari 1min 24.983secs 102 laps

Johnny Herbert Jaguar-Cosworth 1min 25.081secs 83 laps

Marc Gene Minardi-Ford 1min 25.157secs 51 laps

David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1min 25.508secs 57 laps

Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1min 25.843secs 61 laps

Luciano Burti Jaguar-Cosworth 1min 26.177secs 17 laps

Bruno Junqueira Williams-BMW 1min 26.704secs 25 laps

Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 1min 26.828secs 34 laps

Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 1min 26.946secs 32 laps

Norberto Fontana Minardi-Ford 1min 27.774secs 19 laps

Max Wilson Minardi-Ford 1min 27.824secs 20 laps

Darren Manning Williams-BMW 1min 28.829secs 46 laps

Mika Salo Sauber-Petronas 1min 42.260secs 7 laps