Friday Second Free Practice

Toyota's Cristiano da Matta went quickest in the second practice hour for Sunday's French Grand Prix in another rain-affected session at Magny-Cours on Friday.

Brazilian da Matta took top spot from Renault's Jarno Trulli by more than half-a-second with a time of 1:15.516 in the closing seconds of the session. Trulli ended 0.688 down on da Matta with BAR-Honda's Anthony Davidson taking third place late on as the track continued to dry after a mid-session shower affected running.

Davidson's BAR-Honda teammate Jenson Button and Ferrari's World Champion Michael Schumacher both posted the same time to take fourth and fifth respectively.

Fernando Alonso ended sixth for Renault in their home race with David Coulthard seventh quickest and Kimi Raikkonen ninth for McLaren-Mercedes as they debuted the team's new car. Jaguar's Mark Webber split the McLaren pair in eighth, while Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello completed the top ten.

The session had started with a damp track following a torrential downpour before the green light, but the times tumbled as the track dried with Mark Webber, Marc Gene, Anthony Davidson and Button all sitting on top before Trulli.

Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta had a trip across the gravel at turn three 17 minutes into the session but managed to get his car back onto track. Raikkonen was then lucky to avoid an accident when he put a wheel on the wet run-off area but the Finn managed to collect the car before it could send him into a spin.

The FIA said that as both practice sessions were declared wet, teams now have until 12:00 on Saturday to make their tyre choices for qualifying and Sunday's race.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:15.518 12 2. Trulli Renault (M) 1:16.206 + 0.688 9 3. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:16.231 + 0.713 17 4. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:16.397 + 0.879 8 5. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:16.397 + 0.879 7 6. Alonso Renault (M) 1:16.454 + 0.936 10 7. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.464 + 0.946 8 8. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:16.745 + 1.227 14 9. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.794 + 1.276 10 10. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:17.094 + 1.576 5 11. Panis Toyota (M) 1:17.303 + 1.785 10 12. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:17.324 + 1.806 13 13. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:17.556 + 2.038 5 14. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:17.688 + 2.170 17 15. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:17.735 + 2.217 15 16. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:17.936 + 2.418 10 17. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:17.967 + 2.449 11 18. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:18.614 + 3.096 7 19. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:18.711 + 3.193 10 20. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:19.179 + 3.661 16 21. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:19.270 + 3.752 12 22. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:19.349 + 3.831 10 23. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:19.490 + 3.972 25 24. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:19.636 + 4.118 13 25. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:19.914 + 4.396 16 All timing unofficial