Schumacher sets the pace

Motor racing

Michael Schumacher, the current Formula One championship leader, set the fastest time during testing at the Barcelona race track yesterday. The Benetton-Renault driver, who won the Spanish Grand Prix at the track on Sunday, was in dominant form as he recorded the quickest time of 1min 22.51sec in the morning session.

Williams' official test driver, the Frenchman, Jean-Christophe Boullion, was second fastest after a trouble-free run with a time of 1:23.34. Mika Hkkinen of Finland came in third, struggling to match the pace of the faster cars in his ill-sounding McLaren-Mercedes. His time of 1:24.61 edged out another Frenchman, Olivier Panis, who recorded 1:25.31 in his Ligier.

Karl Wendlinger of Austria, who has had a disappointing start to the 1995 season, was off the pace in his Sauber-Ford with a time of 1:27.45. There is still some speculation that he will be dropped by the Swiss team before the Monaco Grand Prix on 28 May.