Friday Second Free Practice

Michael Schumacher finished at the top of the timesheets in Friday's second practice for the Japanese Grand Prix as rain continued to limit track time at Suzuka.

Ferrari's World Champion Schumacher opted to complete only five laps during the afternoon session but his time of 1:45.388 was still 0.714 seconds ahead of the second-placed Sauber of Giancarlo Fisichella.

A brief respite in the rain, which had hampered running in the first session - topped by Schumacher, allowed drivers to set times early in the second practice hour before another downpour prevented improvements.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest for McLaren-Mercedes with Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello setting the fourth best time.

David Coulthard ended the session in fifth place in his McLaren with Jordan enjoying a positive day with drivers Timo Glock and Nick Heidfeld sixth and seventh respectively ahead of BAR-Honda's home favourite Takuma Sato.

BAR test driver Anthony Davidson finished ninth fastest and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, in only his second race for Renault, completed the top ten but was more than four seconds off Schumacher's lead pace.

Glock had an eventful session as he ran wide at the second curve after five minutes and then spun at the hairpin after 12 minutes before spinning again at turn six and taking a trip across the gravel before returning to the pits.

Schumacher himself went off track at the hairpin, Fernando Alonso spun at the Degner Curve and Felipe Massa spun into the gravel at the end of the S Curve as they were caught out by the conditions.

Zsolt Baumgartner was not so lucky, and he was forced to climb out of his Minardi car after spinning at turn six and ending up beached in the gravel trap.

The track is directly in the line of Typhoon Ma-on, which is sweeping up Japan from the south and is due to hit Suzuka with extremely heavy rains between 9am and 3pm local time on Saturday.

The sport's governing body, the FIA, are currently monitoring the typhoon situation and have yet to decide on a procedure to decide the grid if Saturday's qualifying session is cancelled.

But the line up would most likely be based on the finishing order from the last race in China, leaving Barrichello on pole alongside Button with Schumacher down in 12th.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:45.388 5 2. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:46.102 + 0.714 4 3. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:46.749 + 1.361 5 4. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:46.874 + 1.486 5 5. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:48.033 + 2.645 7 6. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:49.277 + 3.889 8 7. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:49.286 + 3.898 4 8. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:49.370 + 3.982 6 9. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:49.598 + 4.210 12 10. Villeneuve Renault (M) 1:49.672 + 4.284 8 11. Alonso Renault (M) 1:49.712 + 4.324 7 12. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:49.736 + 4.348 4 13. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:50.060 + 4.672 3 14. Trulli Toyota (M) 1:50.386 + 4.998 7 15. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:50.666 + 5.278 9 16. Doornbos Jordan-Ford (B) 1:51.007 + 5.619 11 17. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:52.232 + 6.844 9 18. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:52.942 + 7.554 8 19. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:53.194 + 7.806 6 20. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:53.482 + 8.094 3 21. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:54.703 + 9.315 8 22. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) No Time 2 23. Panis Toyota (M) No Time 1 24. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) No Time 25. Briscoe Toyota (M) No Time All timing unofficial