Silverstone Test - Day Three: 27 January.

Johnny Herbert once again put Jaguar at the top of the times, as testing resumed at Silverstone after yesterday's wintry conditions.


The Englishman clocked 44.422secs around the Northampton circuit's National layout to come out on top by over half a second. Both Herbert, and Jaguar team-mate Eddie Irvine, completed less than 20 laps during the day, but it was enough for the pair to sandwich new BAR tester Darren Manning.

Johnny Herbert once again put Jaguar at the top of the times, as testing resumed at Silverstone after yesterday's wintry conditions.


The Englishman clocked 44.422secs around the Northampton circuit's National layout to come out on top by over half a second. Both Herbert, and Jaguar team-mate Eddie Irvine, completed less than 20 laps during the day, but it was enough for the pair to sandwich new BAR tester Darren Manning.


Manning, the English-born Japanese F3 champion, got his first run in the new BAR 002-Honda after Wednesday's planned test was cancelled because of thick fog and a layer of ice on the main straight. Manning proved quick right from the off, completing 67 laps with a best time of 44.964secs.


"It was great to get behind the wheel at last," he said afterwards, "It was difficult to get a good idea of the car because of the cold weather and a track that was very dirty, but I enjoyed it and felt comfortable straight away. I'm glad that we managed to complete so many laps, because it was too cold to be out of the car!"


Despite the number of laps Manning completed, the team still fell short of running through its entire testing programme for the day. It now hopes that the weather will be kinder next time out, in South Africa.


"I thought Darren did an excellent job for his first time in the car, and in far from ideal conditions," admitted team manager Robert Synge, "We didn't get through the full programme we had planned because of the weather, but we did run our second car without any problems, which is very encouraging. We are now looking forward to a full seven days testing in Kyalami."


Behind Manning, Irvine ran just ten laps in clocking up a best time of 45.26secs, which was enough to ensure he finished ahead of Pedro de la Rosa, who gave the new Supertec-powered Arrows A21 its maiden run. Dutch driver Jos Verstappen was also present at the circuit, where he was confirmed as de la Rosa's team-mate for 2000.



Leading performances (27 January):


Johnny Herbert Jaguar-Cosworth 44.422secs 16 laps

Darren Manning BAR-Honda 44.964secs 67 laps

Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 45.260secs 10 laps

Pedro de la Rosa Arrows-Supertec no time

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