OCTOBER 31, 2003

Gene re-signs for BMW Williams

The BMW WilliamsF1 team has confirmed that Marc Gene has re-signed as the team's official test and reserve driver for the 2004 season. Gene has been a much -appreciated member of the team in recent years, completing tens of thousands of testing miles and doing a competent job when he stood in for Ralf Schumacher at the Italian GP at Monza.

"Testing is the backbone of our racing performance and the essential hard grind of the job," said Sam Michael, the senior operations engineer at Williams. " I'm confident that the BMW WilliamsF1 Team could have no-one better as the mainstay of our testing programme. Marc is quick, consistent, and provides the team engineers with excellent and intelligent feedback. It gives me great confidence to know that he will be with the team again next year. I'm also comfortable knowing that Marc, if needed, can also race competitively as he showed this season."

Frank Williams welcomed Gene's decision to stay on.

"We are fortunate to have a driver of Marc's calibre who can test with metronomic precision and efficiency, but who also has the racecraft and depth of experience to represent the team at a Grand Prix when circumstances require," he said. "I am very pleased that we have managed to extend our relationship for another season given that Marc's testing knowledge and abilities are highly regarded elsewhere."