Jerez 2: Ralf happy

The German only managed to complete a handful of laps in the morning after initial installation laps highlighted a problem with the car's electrical systems getting too hot. This forced the team to make modifications to the car, adding an extra air duct to the sidepods, before Schumacher was able to complete several longer runs in the afternoon.

He ended the day fifth fastest overall, about two and a half seconds adrift of pace-setter Mark Webber. However, testing times have been harder to make a definitive judgement from this year than in previous seasons because of cars running to different sets of aerodynamic regulations.

Only BAR is understood to be running with the kind of 2005 limitations that the TF105 has and, encouragingly for Toyota, Anthony Davidson was just half a second clear at the end of the day.

Speaking to autosport.com after the day's testing, a smiling Schumacher said he was upbeat about the progress made - and believed the team had met its initial targets.

"I must say it all went well," said Schumacher. "What we have seen so far is quite good. Obviously we are the only clear 2005 car out here, so we have no comparison, but we found a good baseline today and so far we did not encounter any problems as such.

"There were minor problems which you have, but nothing major. We have to double check quite a few things and we have to deal with the temperature issues for safety reasons, but the handling is much, much better [than the old car.]

"I must say it is one of the few cars that felt good from the start."

Schumacher's optimism about the car is further buoyed by the fact that the car is running with only an interim version of its aerodynamics - with the final wing package not due to make its debut until just before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

"We expect a lot more back on the aero," added Schumacher. "That is the weakness at the moment, but already it is not bad.

"We will just carry on tomorrow and make sure all the little problems that we had today will be sorted out."

Webber set his time before lunch time to edge out Nick Heidfeld, reversing the positions from the first day of the test. Any hopes that Webber's rivals had of bettering his time were rubbed out, however, when his Williams stopped on the track with a mechanical problem at the end of the day - bringing the red flags out for the only time.



Mark Webber (Williams) 1m16.558s, 116 laps
Nick Heidfeld (Williams) 1m16.765s, 86 laps
Franck Montagny (Renault) 1m17.458s, 104 laps
Anthony Davidson (BAR) 1m18.593s, 96 laps
Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) 1m19.018s, 40 laps
Enrique Bernoldi (BAR) 1m20.178s, 134 laps