Newz Forum: AUTO: BAR looking good

Jenson Button believes his unnoficial lap record in Barcelona shows that BAR can challenge Formula One's top teams this season.The Briton beat Michael Schumacher's record for the fastest lap of the revised Circuit de Catalunya as he continues his prepaations for the 2004 season.

BAR�s Jenson Button set a new unofficial lap record at Barcelona on Thursday, bringing Williams� domination of this week�s test session to an end. Running on a light fuel load in the team�s �04 concept car, Button became the first man to dip below 1m 15s around the newly-revised Circuit de Catalunya.BAR�s programme focussed on tyre and reliability testing, with Button doing 86 laps and team mate Takuma Sato, 10th fastest, 90. The Honda-powered team will launch their 2004 race car, the 006, on Sunday February 1.Button�s closest challenger in the times, almost a second slower, was world champion Michael Schumacher, in his first test session of 2004 for Ferrari. Schumacher put in 95 laps on his first day back in the cockpit of the F2003-GA, with test driver Luca Badoer completing another 87 on his way to the fifth-fastest time of the day.

[Edited on 24/1/04 by TRD]