Davidson Fastest in the Wet at Jerez - Day Two

A heavy rain disrupted the second day of testing at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, where up to eight Formula One teams will carry out their final test of the year.

Just like during the final two days of last week's test, and the first of this week's, the drivers had to cope with a very wet circuit that hampered their progress and forced them to alter their programmes, with no men completing more than 50 laps in today's session.

BAR-Honda test driver Anthony Davidson was the fastest man today with the 005 car. The Briton, testing alongside Japanese Takuma Sato, completed a total of 47 laps to finish over half a second ahead of the closest of his rivals. Sato, meanwhile, drove the BAR concept car to set the fourth quickest time of the day.

Felipe Massa was second fastest in the Sauber C22, on the Brazilian's second day of work with the Swiss squad following a year testing for World Champions Ferrari.

"Today we basically experienced the same story as yesterday," said Sauber's chief engineer Jacky Eeckelaert. "In the morning we had light rain which enabled us to run at least 22 laps. We focused on wet set-up for Felipe and optimised his car for his race style under wet weather conditions.

"But in the afternoon it started to rain even heavier than yesterday. Felipe tried to go out and to do some more laps but there was simply too much water on the straights so that he couldn't accelerate. Under these conditions it was too dangerous to continue and it didn't make sense considering our original test programme for today which was supposed to concentrate on dry tests."

Massa's former teammate Rubens Barrichello returned to action following the end of the season, but his progress was hindered by the rain and he only completed 10 laps. Ferrari's test driver Luca Badoer did not even run.

The Williams team kicked off today a four-day test at the Spanish track, with both Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and Spaniard Marc Gene at the wheel of the FW25 car. Montoya was the busiest man on track today with 50 laps and set the fifth fastest time while Gene was down in ninth.

Renault worked with test driver Frank Montagny and Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who was another of the drivers who got back to work today following the end of the season in Japan. Alonso, however, was left frustrated due to the bad weather.

"It's been a lost day, as the tyres and the suspension that we had to test are specific for dry weather," explained Alonso at the end of the day. "I hope the weather improves, or we won't be able to work. I was looking forward to driving again, as I hadn't driven since Japan."

Mark Webber and Christian Klien began Jaguar's final test of the year, with the Australian completing 43 laps on his way to the seventh fastest time of the day. Rookie Klien finished down in 12th after 41 laps at the wheel of the Cosworth-powered R4.

Spanish tester Pedro de la Rosa and Austrian Alexander Wurz were in action for McLaren, but neither completed many laps due to the poor conditions. De la Rosa was eighth fastest after 26 laps and Wurz finished at the bottom of the times after just nine with the MP4-19 car.

Toyota were also working at Jerez today with both their racing drivers Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta.

Testing at Jerez resumes tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:26.256 47 2. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:26.892 22 3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:27.003 10 4. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:27.199 18 5. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:27.452 50 6. Montagny Renault (M) 1:27.775 25 7. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:27.885 43 8. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:28.483 26 9. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:28.663 28 10. Alonso Renault (M) 1:28.705 7 11. Panis Toyota (M) 1:29.627 35 12. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:30.564 41 13. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:31.398 31 14. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:32.385 9 All Timing Unofficial

Visit Atlas F1's Testing Center for further information