By Phil Huff
February 9 2005

Lucky Strike BAR Honda's five day test at Jerez got off to a troubled start today, with Japanese driver Takuma Sato suffering a dramatic rear wing failure at over 185mph. Both Sato and test driver Anthony Davidson were on duty today, although neither driver covered many miles. A damp track in the morning severely limited running, with only a handful of installation laps completed.

Anthony Davidson set just 19 timed laps before bringing his day to a close, setting a best time of 1:20.310, some 2.6 seconds slower than the Sauber of Felipe Massa.

Takuma Sato managed 27 laps before his rear wing self destructed at close to 200mph, causing the driver to crash heavily into the barriers at turn one. Takuma was uninjured in the incident, the first serious test of strength for the 007 chassis, but there was significant damage to the car.

"It was the first time ever I have lost a rear wing," Sato told Autosport. "I was doing over 300kph and I even had wheelspin in seventh gear."

Sato managed to set a time of 1:20.527 in the few laps he ran.

Nelson Piquet Jr was also in action, setting a time of 1:20.852 in the BAR 006. A very respectable first day testing was tempered slightly with a late spin at the penultimate corner.