Kobayashi fastest in second Jerez test

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi had topped the times for most of the session, which began with a slightly damp track but soon improved and allowed the pitlane to make up for the mileage lost during yesterday's incessant rain.

The Swiss driver looked set to hold his position until Kobayashi threw in a 1m19.950s just after the session was restarted for a few minutes after a late red flag.

Jenson Button was third, despite his McLaren stopping on track in the final ten minutes and causing the late stoppage.

Nico Hulkenberg also prompted a stoppage early on when his Williams was halted by a hydraulic leak. It was swiftly repaired and the German ended the day fourth, ahead of an impressive performance from Force India's Tonio Liuzzi.

Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) took sixth, with Fernando Alonso only seventh for Ferrari. But both Ferrari and Mercedes had focused on longer runs today, with Schumacher completing 35 laps in one stint, and Alonso doing a 48-lap run.

Alonso was particularly eye-catching, with Alonso lapping in 1m21.928s towards the end, while Schumacher's later times were around 1m23s. Alonso had the most mileage of the day, notching up 129 laps.

"I am very happy with how the day went today even if we could not finish our schedule completely due to red flags," said Schumacher. "However I managed to complete a lot of laps which is very precious to me.

"A new car, a new team and new conditions, therefore our first goal has to be to make the car reliable. Days like today help massively in that respect, especially as the weather forecast for the next few days isn't looking quite so rosy. I felt very comfortable driving the car and it was good fun today."

Renault decided to put Robert Kubica in the car today so that its more experienced driver could take advantage of the dry running - with forecasts for the remaining two days suggesting more rain interruptions. Vitaly Petrov, who had initially been in line for Renault duties today, will return to the car tomorrow.

Kubica ended the day eighth, ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber and Virgin's Timo Glock.

The latter had a troubled day, causing a red flag when his front wing became detached while out on the circuit. Virgin quickly identified the cause of the issue, but the need to bring in more spares meant Glock was sidelined for the rest of the day, having completed just 11 laps.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Kobayashi BMW-Sauber (B) 1:19.950 103 2. Buemi Toro Rosso Ferrari (B) 1:20.026 121 3. Button McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:20.618 83 4. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:20.629 67 5. Liuzzi Force India- Mercedes (B) 1:20.754 80 6. M.Schumacher Mercedes GP (B) 1:21.083 124 7. Alonso Ferrari (B) 1:21.424 129 8. Kubica Renault (B) 1:22.003 103 9. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:22.043 99 10. Glock Virgin-Cosworth (B) 1:29.964 11 All Timing Unofficial