The two Friday testers battled from the beginning of the first practice session of the 2005 Canadian Grand Prix and all the way to the end with the Spaniard getting the better of the Brazilian.

De la Rosa finished with the best time of 1:16.415, just .169 seconds better than Zonta’s 1:16.584.

The McLaren dominance of the session continued with their race drivers as well as Kimi Raikkonen finished third while Juan Pablo Montoya placed himself in sixth.

The two race ban put on BAR was put toward making the BAR007 faster and the new aero parts have proved to be fruitful as Jenson Button was only .262 seconds off de la Rosa. BAR team-mate Takuma Sato was a further second back in eighth place.

Michael Schumacher looks to be in contention for a podium early this weekend as he put his F2005 fifth in the standings with a 1:16.872.

Renault and Williams were quiet during the session with the French team only completing eight laps whereas the Grove, England squad just ran 11.

New Red Bull Friday tester Scott Speed spent the better part of the session getting accustomed to the circuit and working with his new team. The American finished the session in 15th, two seconds adrift of de la Rosa.