Buemi tops Portimao test again

Following two frustrating days of rain, the teams were finally able to get some dry running and use slick tyres, as the track dried out by mid-morning today.

Toro Rosso were once again the only team running a modified 2008-spec car and Buemi's best time was nearly two seconds quicker than second-placed Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg completed several long runs during his second day in the Williams FW31, covering 143 laps during the day, and was the fastest of the 2009 cars. He was half a second quicker than Lewis Hamilton, who returned to the cockpit today for the first time since winning the world championship in Brazil.

Hamilton's only incident of the day was when he stopped the McLaren MP4-24 on the approach to the hairpin with an engine system shutdown at the end of the morning session, but he went on to complete 81 laps. He will hand the car over to Heikki Kovalainen tomorrow.

Timo Glock was in action for Toyota and caused a half hour stoppage during the morning when a disconnected oil pipe resulted in his car catching fire at the hairpin. He was not running KERS at the time.

Fernando Alonso completed the field for Renault and brought the day's running to a conclusion at the end of the afternoon when he stopped in the pit entry.

"It is very early days with the new car and so we keep discovering things and improving our understanding with every lap," said Alonso.

"There are so many things to learn in a short time and we need to maximise our time on track, so to do so many laps today was a good effort. The programme for tomorrow will be more of the same and hopefully the weather will remain dry."

Today's testing times:

Pos  Driver    Team                     Time      Laps
 1.  Buemi     Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:27.987  128
 2.  Rosberg   Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:29.729  143
 3.  Hamilton  McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:30.242  81
 4.  Glock     Toyota              (B)  1:30.878  63
 5.  Alonso    Renault             (B)  1:31.743  84