Monza test - day three: 11 July.

Williams test driver Antonio Pizzonia again topped the times in the Monza session, but the third day of action in Italy was dominated by the heavy crash suffered by Jaguar prot?g? James Courtney.

The Australian had replaced fellow test driver Andre Lotterer alongside race regular Pedro de la Rosa for the purpose of back-to-back comparisons between the old and new R3-Cosworths, but went off heavily at the Ascari chicane after a suspected suspension failure on the original car. Although he was largely unhurt, the current British F3 points leader was flown to a nearby hospital for checks, which revealed a minor concussion but no serious injury. The car was beyond repair, but its safety cell stood up well to what was a massive impact.

Once the stoppage to clear debris from the incident was over, Pizzonia resumed normal service by leading the way in the sole FW24-BMW. Although the Brazilian did not enjoy an entirely trouble-free day, he ended the session half a second quicker than next fastest man, Olivier Panis.

The Frenchman worked with Honda's engineers to develop the latest Japanese V10, which finally delivered the team points at a damp Silverstone at the weekend. Although he too suffered some down time, reportedly caused by gearbox gremlins, Panis appeared satisfied with his day's work.

de la Rosa separated Panis from the second BAR-Honda present at Monza, as test driver Anthony Davidson followed a traction control programme, and enjoyed a slightly more productive day in the revised Jaguar R3B that the young Briton is slated to try in the coming weeks. de la Rosa reported progress with the aerodynamic package introduced for Silverstone last weekend, as he worked towards settling on a set-up for the forthcoming 'fast' races in Germany and Italy.

With Courtney marooned at the foot of the timesheets by his accident, Toyota was spared the ignominy of bringing up the rear as Mika Salo and Ryan Briscoe continued the programme begun by Allan McNish over the previous two days. Salo split his time between achieving a set-up that allowed the TF102 to attack the kerbs and furthering the electronic and cooling developments that hopefully will allow the team to escape the sort of start-line drama endured by McNish last Sunday, while Briscoe, pulled from his F3000 drive at Nordic, worked on improving the overall balance of the second car.

The test concludes tomorrow [Friday].

Leading performances (11 July):

Antonio Pizzonia Williams-BMW 1min 24.0secsOlivier Panis BAR-Honda 1min 24.6secsPedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 1min 24.8secsAnthony Davidson BAR-Honda 1min 25.3secsMika Salo Toyota-Toyota 1min 25.9secsRyan Briscoe Toyota-Toyota 1min 26.3secsJames Courtney Jaguar-Cosworth 1min 29.0secs

[BAR on Bridgestone tyres, all others on Michelin]
[Weather: warm and sunny]