SCHUMACHER ESCAPES HUGE TEST SHUNT

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from itv-f1.com:

SCHUMACHER ESCAPES HUGE TEST SHUNT

Last Updated: Friday, 03, September, 2004, 10:38

Michael Schumacher walked away from a huge crash in testing at Monza on Thursday.

The world champion suffered a left-rear tyre failure at the end of the start/finish straight, pitching him into the barriers.

Schumacher took a while to get out of the car and spent a few minutes lying down composing himself by the side of the track before returning to the pits.

Bridgestone is investigating the reason for the failure. Ironically, it comes just four days after three Michelin runners suffered blowouts during the Belgian Grand Prix.

Schumacher flew home to Switzerland immediately after the accident.

The German ended up sixth fastest on the day. The pace was set by Williams' Antonio Pizzonia, who was three-quarters of a second ahead of Belgian GP winner Kimi Raikkonen.

No fewer than 19 cars were in action on the day. Fernando Alonso was the busiest man at the track, completing 115 laps.

Thursday testing times from Monza

1 PIZZONIA Williams 1m20.027s

2 RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m20.778s

3 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m20.862s

4 DAVIDSON BAR 1m20.872s

5 SATO BAR 1m20.974s

6 SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m21.055s

7 ALONSO Renault 1m21.077s

8 MONTOYA Williams 1m21.090

9 COULTHARD McLaren 1m21.176s

10 FISICHELLA Sauber 1m21.176s

11 KLIEN Jaguar 1m21.502s

12 BUTTON BAR 1m21.603s

13 TRULLI Renault 1m21.652s

14 WEBBER Jaguar 1m21.675s

15 PANIS Toyota 1m22.476s

16 ZONTA Toyota 1m22.870s

17 BAUMGARTNER Minardi 1m24.088s

18 GLOCK Jordan 1m24.122s

19 BRUNI Minardi 1m25.024s