Button Sets the Pace at Paul Ricard - Day Two

BAR's Jenson Button set the fastest time on the second day of testing at Paul Ricard - the first day with all six Michelin-shod teams running alongside each other.

The Briton set a time of 1:06.930 - half a second slower than the circuit's lap record but the fastest time set on the track since February last year, when McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen set a time of 1:06.425. The Finn was second quickest in today's session, with a time of 1:07.435. He was closely followed by teammate David Coulthard.

Williams fielded one car only, with the team's test driver Marc Gene setting the fourth fastest time. The Spaniard concentrated on set-up work and tyre compound evaluations ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix. Gene will be replaced tomorrow by Antonio Pizzonia.

Renault ran both Fernando Alonso and Franck Montagny, the latter running a total of 168 laps - more than any other driver. Renault said Montagny completed a race distance during the morning, and then ran the engine to almost 700km by the end of the day. A minor incident ended his day just ten minutes before the end of the session.

"We had an extremely good day â€" to complete over 1000km is a fantastic achievement," commented Renault's chief test engineer Christian Silk. "Given that this was Franck's first run in the R24, he had an enormous programme â€" but we almost completed it, falling just short of a full weekend's mileage. Fernando continued working with the new aerodynamic parts and engine specification, concentrating on set-ups work in the revised configuration."

The two Renault drivers were followed on the timesheets by Jaguar's Mark Webber, and Toyota's pair of Cristiano da Matta and Ryan Briscoe.

Testing at the French circuit continues tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Time Laps 1. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:06.930 140 2. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:07.435 74 3. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:07.664 87 4. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:07.806 108 5. Alonso Renault (M) 1:08.002 95 6. Montagny Renault (M) 1:08.078 168 7. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:08.331 118 8. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:08.464 70 9. Briscoe Toyota (M) 1:08.969 119

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