MONTREAL, Canada, 13 June 2004 — Renault pair Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso topped the final practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix here yesterday as world champion Michael Schumacher finished sixth quickest.

German Schumacher, who has won five of the last seven races here, expects his car to perform well around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve but finished 0.791 seconds off Italian Trulli’s top time of one min 12.629 secs. Trulli, who won the Monaco Grand Prix in May after starting from pole, finished 0.272 secs ahead of teammate Alonso, who had finished second fastest in the second session on Friday.

Trulli’s consistent performance, which saw him lower his session-topping time just one minute from the end, places him as a possible contender for pole position despite a harmless spin at the end of the session.

But BAR-Honda are still expected to be the closest team to Ferrari this weekend and their two drivers Jenson Button and Takuma Sato finished third and fourth in the final preparation session before qualifying.

Juan Pablo Montoya finished fifth for Williams with McLaren pair David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen seventh and eighth, Rubens Barrichello ninth for Ferrari and Christian Klien 10th for Jaguar.

Barrichello finished 1.275 behind session leader Trulli but damaged his car in the first session when he ran hard over the kerbs and also had an off in the second 45 minutes.

German Timo Glock finished 18th as he prepared for his Grand Prix debut with Jordan after taking over from regular race driver Giorgio Pantano, who failed to find the funds to secure his drive this weekend.

McNish’s Dream of Le Mans Double Shattered by Crash

Allan McNish’s dream of winning a second LeMans 24 Hour Race title suffered a painful end yesterday when he crashed out of the event with less than two hours on the clock.

The Scotsman was forced to retire when his Audi collided with another Audi driven by JJ Lehto at the Porsche Curves leading to the safety car being summoned while debris and oil were cleared from the track.

McNish’s Audi, which had led in the early stages, suffered broken suspension while Lehto’s vehicle had a damaged left wheel.

While McNish was taken to hospital for checks, fellow former winner Johnny Herbert in the second Audi UK Sport inherited the lead as he went in search of a second win to add to his 1991 victory with Mazda.