BAR completes double test in Spain.

Lucky Strike BAR Honda ran a double test programme in Valencia and Jerez this week in preparation for the next two races in Monaco and Canada.

Jacques Villeneuve began a two-day stint in Valencia on Tuesday and was joined by Anthony Davidson on Wednesday. Olivier Panis took over the running on Thursday, running solo for the last two days of the test, while Davidson made his way south to Jerez for a further two-day programme, this time focusing on preparation for next month's Canadian GP.

While the Monaco circuit is truly unique, Valencia's characteristics make it the ideal track to prepare for the demanding high downforce conditions of the Monte Carlo streets. The key elements of this week's test there were aerodynamic updates, Monaco-specification tyre work with Bridgestone and further engine development with Honda.

On day one in Valencia, Villeneuve completed 81 laps in total and posted the fourth fastest time - a 1min 14.337secs effort compared with pacesetter Antonio Pizzonia's 1min 12.851secs in the Williams. Day two saw JV complete just 15 laps before an electrical problem cut short his run. Davidson took over for six laps while the team resolved the problem and Villeneuve was able to complete a further 42 laps in the afternoon, bringing his total running to 57 for the day. He posted the third fastest time in 1min 12.519secs, while Marc Gene, again in a Williams, set the pace with a 1min 10.443secs lap record.

On the third day, a mechanical problem reduced Panis' running to 54 laps, with a best time of 1min 12.432secs comparing to the 1min 10.587secs for Ralf Schumacher. Engine-related problems hampered progress on the fourth and final day of testing today and twice stopped the Frenchman out on track. Despite that, Panis completed 60 laps in total, but was unable to make the necessary progress with the tyres. As a result, his best lap time was some 2.3secs off the pace set by Gene.

Whilst Valencia was a little disappointing in terms of performance, however, it was a reasonably good engineering test and the team completed the work it set out to do.

"We have done some good set-up work in Valencia, despite the mechanical problems which affected my running time," Villeneuve commented, "We have to focus all our attention on Monaco now."

"We are putting a lot of hard work into developing the car and we have to expect some problems along the way," added Panis, who bore the brunt of the problems, "It is frustrating, but we have to work through the problems to move forward. We now have to apply what we've learned for Monaco."

By contrast, Davidson enjoyed a much more productive test in Jerez. He completed 185 laps in two days and posted a best time of 1min 21.871secs while running alongside Ferrari test driver Luciano Burti.