Villeneuve pulls out of Monza test

JV unhappy
By pitpass.com (05/06/2003)
June 5 2003

Lucky Strike BAR Honda driver Jacques Villeneuve has pulled out of the team's test at Monza complaining of back pain. The French-Canadian was in action yesterday but completed only 43 laps and finished almost 1.5s off the pace.

Talking to an Italian news agency the 1997 world Champion said: "I feel a strong pain in the dorsal spine that prevents me from driving the way I want. I made an effort and concluded the test today to prepare for my home Grand Prix in Montreal, but tomorrow I will not be testing here."

Earlier in the day BAR had revealed that Jenson Button, who crashed heavily in Monaco at the weekend, would play no part in this week's Monza test.

On both of the first two days of the test BAR's test driver Anthony Davidson, who competes at Le Mans this weekend, has been second fastest to Marc Gene.

A full testing round up will appear shortly.

This article was written for pitpass.com and is used with permission.