By Huw Alban (12/03/03)
March 12 2003

Toyota returned to testing and development today, joining 4 other teams at Jerez. Cristiano da Matta's disappointing Australian Grand Prix was forgotten today as he set the fastest time of the day, ahead of McLaren ! Cristiano took the wheel of a TF103, and worked on preparing for the next race in Malaysia in just under two weeks time. The Brazilian completed 70 laps in total, and was in a positive mood after his runs today.

"I have done many laps today and we could get the maximum out of this first day," da Matta said to Toyota-F1.com . "The programme basically covered an extensive list of items and we literally worked on everything, making good progress. Our last test in Jerez had been heavily hampered by persistent bad weather, and it was good for the team to carry out productive set-up work in decent conditions this time. I thought I might be a bit tired after my trip back from Australia but I feel really well. Having had such a positive day is also very encouraging."

Cristiano continues his test programme tomorrow, after which Olivier Panis takes over for the final two days.

Jerez Wednesday testing times

1 Cristiano da Matta, Toyota, 1:19.647, 70 laps
2 Alex Wurz, McLaren/Mercedes, 1:20.285, 32
3 Marc Gene, Williams/BMW, 1:20.385, 64
4 Pedro de la Rosa McLaren/Mercedes, 1:20.561, 61
5 Takuma Sato, BAR/Honda, 1:21.708, 74