Alonso on Top in Practice 2 - Monaco
Renault and McLaren look set to fight for honours in this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix after Fernando Alonso narrowly pipped Alex Wurz to the fastest time of the day in second practice on Thursday.
Championship leader Alonso set a time of 1:15.835 around the barrier-lined circuit in his Renault but finished just 0.077 seconds ahead of McLaren test driver Wurz as both teams proved they are on the pace.
The force was with David Coulthard as he drove his Star Wars-liveried Red Bull Racing machine to the third fastest time of the day, 0.349 seconds off the lead pace while Giancarlo Fisichella made it two Renaults in the top four.
Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen, the two McLaren race drivers, were right behind Fisichella in fifth and sixth while Vitantonio Liuzzi finished seventh in the second Red Bull car.
Felipe Massa finished eighth fastest for Sauber, despite a crash late in the session, while Toyota pair Ralf Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta completed the top ten runners.
Minardi driver Christijan Albers made a mistake early in the session and became the first driver to hit the barriers this year, losing the rear wing in the process, when he lost control after Casino Square.
Jordan test driver Robert Doornbos also went off track at the first turn midway through the session and Christian Klien spun his Red Bull Racing car and knocked off the front wing on his car when he hit the barriers.
And Massa lost control of his Sauber heading into Sainte Devote and just missed the inside barrier but slid, tyres smoking, into the tyre barrier on the outside of the corner just two minutes from the end of the session.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Alonso Renault (M) 1:15.835 27 2. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:15.912 + 0.077 24 3. Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:16.184 + 0.349 21 4. Fisichella Renault (M) 1:16.519 + 0.684 32 5. Montoya McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.534 + 0.699 21 6. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.558 + 0.723 26 7. Liuzzi Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:16.640 + 0.805 27 8. Massa Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:16.914 + 1.079 19 9. R.Schumacher Toyota (M) 1:16.917 + 1.082 24 10. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:17.046 + 1.211 35 11. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:17.170 + 1.335 11 12. Webber Williams-BMW (M) 1:17.422 + 1.587 30 13. Trulli Toyota (M) 1:17.487 + 1.652 28 14. Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:17.506 + 1.671 27 15. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:17.663 + 1.828 25 16. Heidfeld Williams-BMW (M) 1:17.667 + 1.832 29 17. Klien Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:18.815 + 2.980 23 18. Doornbos Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:19.526 + 3.691 26 19. Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:19.587 + 3.752 26 20. Monteiro Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:20.284 + 4.449 31 21. Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:21.879 + 6.044 12 22. Albers Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:22.162 + 6.327 15 All timing unofficial
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