Prost completes successful maiden outing.

Prost Grand Prix has finished its first test session of the New Year, with Jean Alesi driving the new AP04 without problems at Magny-Cours.

Powered by the Ferrari-supplied engine, Alesi covered 63 laps of the French circuit, and completed the technical programme as planned, although some rain disturbed the end of the session. The weather, as it has been for almost every team this week, continued to be very cold, but the session proved to be very productive and trouble-free for a Prost team looking for an improvement in form this year.

All of the 200 Prost staff were present at Magny-Cours to witness the first run of the new car, leading team boss Alain Prost to comment that the test was a very special day for the whole squad.

"It's a turning point for us," he stressed, "This first test was a reward for all the team's efforts over the past few weeks. Thanks to the excellent job done by everyone at Prost Grand Prix, [who are] all very motivated, we were able to run the car exactly as scheduled.

"Throughout the past months, we have completely re-organised the team and put a whole new structure in place. It was with big satisfaction that we saw the car running so many laps without any reliability problem.

"Today was also the first time the team was at the track with the Ferrari-engine technicians. It was remarkable how well we worked together. I would like to thank them for the commitment they have shown right from the beginning."

Prost will be in Barcelona next week for an intensive test session on the Circuit de Catalunya, alongside the other signed Michelin users, Williams, Jaguar and Benetton.