Reported from Kyalami by Michele Lupini
Photography by Marc Bow

Villeneuve Fastest at Kyalami

After both teams present at Kyalami spent much of the day in their garages attending to various transmission traumas, only Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher took advantage of a session extended to 18:00 this evening. Even so, gremlins got the better of both the BAR and Williams' planned long runs and the track closed ten minutes early.

Villeneuve had an relatively good day though, getting three quarters through a race distance simulation in before the gearbox control software problem, which had dogged the fledging team's visit to the South African circuit until today, raised its unwelcome head once again. But the team managed 66 valuable laps today, allowing some progress after a frustrating couple of days so far. Villeneuve's quickest time of 1:24.22sec, the second fastest lap of the week - only 0.3 sec off Schumacher's fastest time yesterday morning, should add some cheer in BAR's labour-intensive Kyalami garage tonight.

Villeneuve leaves tonight, with team mate Riccardo Zonta taking over testing duties from tomorrow.

Williams too had a difficult day today. With Alex Zanardi's car in the box awaiting parts to be flown in from England, Schumacher's planned day's activity was curtailed when the FW21 also succumbed to a gearbox snag early in the session. A problem, originally anticipated as a hydraulic fault, turned out to be an electrical component chafing and shorting. The car eventually came out late in the evening, and although the pit board showed 22 laps to go, Ralf abandoned the run twice after a handful of laps each time, before the team packed it in for the evening. Ralf's quickest lap was 1:.25.34, clocked during one of his late evening runs.

Pos  Driver              Car                        Time*
 1   Jacques Villeneuve   BAR 01 Supertech          1:24,22sec
 2   Ralf Schumacher      Williams FW 21 Mecachrome 1:25.34sec

Circuit Length: 4.270km
Track temperature: 35C
Ambient temperature: 26C 
Conditions: Cloudy & warm, clearing partly later
* All times unofficial, no official timing in place.

Teams Ask for an Extra Day

In the light of problems they've encountered so far during their 5-day test at Kyalami, the BAR and Williams teams have asked the circuit owners for permission to extend their programmes an extra day into Thursday.

Both teams experienced difficulties, which delayed their planned routines. But they will have to wait until their freight arrangements can be altered prior to making a final decision to stay on.

Another factor is that a planned Thursday testing session for the local Touring Car and Group N Championship season openers at the circuit on Saturday will have to be cancelled or shortened to accommodate the F1 teams’ needs if they do stay. This makes it difficult for the local competitors, in particular for BMW SA, who’s brand new E46 3-Series racers make their international touring car debut, and the local Opel team’s new Vectras, which have their maiden outing this weekend, to have an opportunity to properly prepare for the races on Saturday.

When Will a South African GP Happen?

With rumours of a possible South African Grand Prix happening this year already reaching the point of speculation of a date for such an event, Kyalami has to brace itself for a busy time if a race does happen. There is talk of Kyalami taking the Argentine date early in April. If this were to happen, Kyalami would be hard-pressed to prepare for a Grand Prix in a very short time after the World Superbike season opener on March 28, especially since the circuit requirement for motorcycles differs considerably from that of a car Grand Prix. A later date would far better suit Kyalami, leaving ample time to ensure a truly world class event at the ultra modern facility north of Johannesburg.

Credit: Michele Lupini, South Africa
Photography: Marc Bow, South Africa