Jerez 2: Ralf stays on top

The German completed a full 113 laps on a day when dry conditions prevailed, before rain soaked the track at 4pm.

Jenson Button and Takuma Sato were also working on tyres for BAR though comparison work between the 2004 hybrid 'Concept' car (driven by Sato) and this year's 005 (driven by Button) proved difficult in the conditions. Button was second quickest and Sato fourth.

The Japanese driver was impressed on his first acquaintance with the concept car. "The rear-end seems more stable, especially in high-speed corners," reported Sato. "I have a very positive feeling. It looks like it will be a nice car."

Marc Gene split the BAR boys with second fastest in Williams' own '04 hybrid car. Next up were Ferrari's Luca Badoer (engine work) and Felipe Massa (tyre testing). Massa had a quick off, kissing the barrier in the first corner, but escaping with superficial car-damage.

Nico Rosberg was next best, taking his turn in the third Williams. The former World Champion's son had one harmless spin, but went quicker than Ferrari's other tyre tester Luciano Burti.

"It's been very good," commented Rosberg. "And it definitely helped that I had previous experience of an F1 car. I'm happy with what I've done - let's see how it goes tomorrow."

Rosberg, who also had a Williams run last winter as a prize for his Formula BMW exploits, is scheduled to share the car tomorrow with Nelsinho Piquet - the Brazilian set to drive in the morning and the Finn in the afternoon.

Bringing up the rear were the two Jordans in the hands of Nick Heidfeld and Jaroslav Janis - both drivers simply familiarising themselves with the EJ13.

Tomorrow looks likely to be a wet test day - it's raining now and expected to continue that way.



Ralf Schumacher (Williams-BMW) 1m17.743s 113
Jenson Button (BAR-Honda) 1m18.317s 59
Marc Gene (Williams-BMW) 1m18.559s 50
Takuma Sato (BAR-Honda) 1m18.656s 77
Luca Badoer (Ferrari) 1m18.868s 75
Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1m19.085s 64
Nico Rosberg (Williams-BMW) 1m19.490s 67
Luciano Burti (Ferrari) 1m19.583s 47
Nick Heidfeld (Jordan-Ford) 1m20.036s 29
Jaroslav Janis (Jordan-Ford) 1m21.976s 62