Carroll fastest of the BAR young guns.

Brit Adam Carroll was the fastest of the BAR Honda young driver programme as the team let last year's chassis out on track with hot-shots James Rossiter, Alsn van der Merwe and Adam Carroll at the wheel a total of 230 laps between them.

The three drivers have been contracted to the team and all ran in December at Jerez. Now having run in the car at two circuits and having been put through their paces by the team's physio, Karl Bickley, it's now crunch time as the squad decides what they want to do next with the drivers.

At Valencia, first to drive on Wednesday morning was James Rossiter who completed 37 laps for a best time of 1min 13.746secs. Alan van der Merwe took over in the afternoon session completing a total of 46 laps with a best time of 1min 15.081secs.

Adam Carroll took to the track on Thursday morning completing 47 laps with a best of 1min 13.358secs, whilst Rossiter was also out that day before a transmission problem brought his running to an early end after 25 laps and a best of 1min 12.671secs.

Friday saw van der Merwe on track in the morning for 52 laps in seven runs with a best time of 1min 13.111secs. Adam Carroll took over for the afternoon, completing 26 laps and setting a 1min 12.585secs time, which the team termed as 'respectable.'

Carroll has certainly enjoyed his time getting to play with an F1 car. "It's been an enjoyable three days out in Valencia and we have benefited from the chance to run the car in dry conditions," he explained afterwards. "It is a totally different experience to Jerez in December which was very wet and the car is so much faster."

Fellow Brit James Rossiter was similarly happy "The event has been a good experience for all of us and it went very well," he said with a smile. "It was my first drive at Valencia so I spent much of the first session acclimatising myself with the car and the circuit. I felt very comfortable in the car and although I lost some running time due to a technical problem in the second session, I am happy with what I achieved this week."

South African Alan van der Merwe felt he learnt a lot from the experience. "I'm pretty happy with what I achieved in Valencia this week," he explains. "I definitely improved over the two sessions in the car and felt much more comfortable in my second session this morning. The brakes are the biggest challenge as it is such a step-up from what we are used to and there is a lot of time to be found there. I would like to have done a better job on the new tyres today but overall the three days went well and it was great to get another chance in the car."

For the 'Young Driver Programme Leader,' Jock Clear was pleased with what he saw. "For these young drivers to have a second chance in the car at this busy time for the team shows the level of commitment that BAR Honda has made to this programme," explains Clear.

"With that in mind it is especially satisfying to see all three of them doing such a solid job both in and out of the car. They are clearly very committed to making the most of the opportunity and are working well with the engineers and mechanics. Their lap times have shown good progression and the outright pace has been very respectable. The Young Driver Programme will now focus on developing their talent as they continue with their 2005 racing season in other formulae."