Button sets fastest time as Gene crashes
( 2002-04-17 10:31 ) (7 )

Briton Jenson Button set the fastest time for Renault in testing at Silverstone on Tuesday after the session was interrupted when Williams-BMW driver Marc Gene crashed.

Button, whose day was curtailed by an engine problem in the afternoon, was two tenths of a second faster than Ulsterman Eddie Irvine in the Jaguar.

But Spanish test driver Gene was fortunate to escape with only bruising when his car spun off the track at Bridge corner at around 11 a.m. (1200 GMT).

Gene spun backwards into the tyre wall and the violent impact tore all four wheels off his car, which bounced back across the track and was narrowly missed by Germany's Nick Heidfeld in a Sauber.

Williams test team manager Tim Newton said" "It was a high-speed crash but Marc got straight out. He was a bit shocked, though, and he had to miss the rest of the day."

He was taken to the medical centre after the crash and underwent routine checks but was forced to sit in the garage as the team repaired damage to his car.

Heidfeld finished the day third fastest, with British American Racing Honda driver Anthony Davidson making it three Britons in the top four with the fourth fastest time.

Japan's Takuma Sato, in the Jordan-Honda, set the fifth fastest time with Gene sixth, Heinz-Harald Frentzen of Germany seventh in the Arrows and Brazilian Formula 3000 driver Antonio Pizzonia last in the second Williams-BMW.