Friday Second Free Practice - San Marino GP

BAR-Honda's form continued on Friday as Jenson Button and Takuma Sato topped the times in the second practice session ahead of Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix.

Button, who has finished third in the last two races, was the quickest with a lap time of 1:20.966 as he finished 0.193 seconds ahead of Sato. BAR have enjoyed an impressive start to the season and only world champion Michael Schumacher was within half-a-second of Button's time as he ended third overall.

Schumacher, who has won all three races this season, had been quickest by more than two seconds in the opening session, but he could not repeat the performance and finished 0.198 seconds down on Button.

Kimi Raikkonen was fourth for McLaren as he looks to overcome his miserable run of luck, while Renault's Jarno Trulli was fifth and Anthony Davidson completed a good day for BAR in sixth. Williams-BMW driver Juan Pablo Montoya was seventh ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso and McLaren's David Coulthard, while Ralf Schumacher completed the top-ten for Williams.

Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello failed to make it into the top-ten as he ended the session 11th more than a second slower than Button. BAR test driver Davidson headed the timesheets after an early quick lap time before Schumacher, Montoya and Sato all took over the top spot for brief spells.

Sato continued to set the pace half-way through the session as world champion Schumacher closed to within 0.005 seconds. BAR's impressive form was underlined when Button took over from teammate Sato as the pacesetter, despite the Japanese driver lowering his previous best around the Imola circuit.

Ricardo Zonta, Toyota's test driver, pulled off the track at turn 14 after encountering a problem 11 minutes from the end of the session. McLaren driver Raikkonen moved up to fourth place behind the two BAR's and Schumacher, but the Finn was still move than half-a-second down on leader Button, who remained untouched at the top of the timesheets.

Jordan test driver Timo Glock did not take to the track for the second practice session after the German crashed into the barriers during the opening session.

Pos Driver Team-Engine Time Laps 1. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:20.966 25 2. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:21.159 + 0.193 25 3. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:21.164 + 0.198 23 4. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:21.586 + 0.620 18 5. Trulli Renault (M) 1:21.604 + 0.638 25 6. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:21.643 + 0.677 30 7. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:21.661 + 0.695 25 8. Alonso Renault (M) 1:21.788 + 0.822 25 9. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:21.795 + 0.829 17 10. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:22.057 + 1.091 24 11. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:22.096 + 1.130 20 12. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:22.167 + 1.201 28 13. Panis Toyota (M) 1:22.768 + 1.802 22 14. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:22.780 + 1.814 23 15. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:23.043 + 2.077 27 16. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:23.211 + 2.245 15 17. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:23.335 + 2.369 28 18. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:23.470 + 2.504 25 19. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:23.500 + 2.534 20 20. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:23.866 + 2.900 15 21. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:24.091 + 3.125 19 22. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:25.653 + 4.687 16 23. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:25.760 + 4.794 10 24. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:27.025 + 6.059 22 All timing unofficial