Barc 2: Webber on top

Webber and Heidfeld both ground to a halt around lunch-time with similar gearbox problems and the team is now awaiting for fresh parts to be flown into Barcelona so it can get on top of the issues.

"We are just waiting for some new solutions," said Williams technical director Sam Michael.

Despite the problems, the duo just managed to outpace day one pace-setter Michael Schumacher, who spent most of the day conducting long-run evaluation of tyres in a modified Ferrari F2004 that featured 2005 levels of downforce.

Jarno Trulli continued Toyota's evaluation of its TF105 but the team's technical director Mike Gascoyne believed it was pointless reading too much into the progress made at the test because of the ultra-slippery track conditions.

Speaking to autosport.com, Gascoyne said: "At the moment, with the track in this condition, it is meaningless to test any particular set-up, so we are just collecting data on the mileage. We will be able to tell more when we go testing elsewhere."

As well as the frustrations with the tricky track surface, Toyota was further hampered by a return of pneumatic valve problems - which stopped Trulli on Tuesday and ended Ralf Schumacher's running on Wednesday after he had lost a lot of time having a front-wing fixed following an off-track excursion.

Vitantonio Liuzzi was the fastest driver from Red Bull Racing as the team focused on tyre developments with its updated 2004 cars. The new machine is not expected to run until the planned Jerez test on February 7.



Mark Webber (Williams) 1m16.627s, 34 laps
Nick Heidfeld (Williams) 1m16.987s, 34 laps
Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) 1m17.026s, 124 laps
Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1m17.664s, 82 laps
Vitantonio Liuzzi (Red Bull Racing) 1m18.035s, 39 laps
David Coulthard (Red Bull Racing) 1m18.210s, 64 laps
Christian Klien (Red Bull Racing) 1m18.320s, 30 laps
Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) 1m 20,338s, 22 laps