Zonta hits tyre barrier at 200mph

Toyota's Formula One reserve driver Ricardo Zonta ended testing a day early after escaping unhurt from a200mph crash at Monza yesterday.

Toyota's Formula One reserve driver Ricardo Zonta ended testing a day early after escaping unhurt from a200mph crash at Monza yesterday.

The team said that the Brazilian careered into the tyre barriers at the exit to the Italian circuit's Parabolica curve and the car was too badly damaged for him to continue as scheduled today.

Zonta's was the second big accident in two days at Monza, with the Brazilian Felipe Massa's Sauber-Petronas suffering a left rear suspension failure as his car approached the first chicane at high speed on Wednesday. Teams are testing at Silverstone in England and at Monza before travelling to Montreal for next week's Canadian Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, Gerhard Berger will drive Michael Schumacher's 2003 title-winning Ferrari at the official opening of Shanghai's new Formula One circuit on Sunday. Shanghai is scheduled to host China's first grand prix on 26 September. The Italian team said that Berger would join the Ferrari managing director, Jean Todt, and the Italian test driver Luca Badoer at the ceremony.

The 44-year-old Berger last drove a Formula One car in April, lapping the Imola circuit in Ayrton Senna's 1985 Lotus to mark the 10th anniversary of the deaths of his former McLaren team-mate and the Austrian Roland Ratzenberger.