Kubica on top in practice 2 - Germany
BMW Sauber test driver Robert Kubica enhanced his growing reputation by setting the pace in the second free practice session for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim
Kubica further staked his claim for a race seat with the team next year with the fastest time of the day in 1:16.275.
Home hero Michael Schumacher was the fastest race driver in second overall for Ferrari, but he was almost three tenths of a second slower than Kubica.
Red Bull test driver Robert Doornbos was third, with McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen fourth and Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa fifth.
Anthony Davidson was the best of the Honda drivers in sixth as the team failed to repeat the promise shown in the earlier session - a point typified by Rubens Barrichello's trip across the gravel late on.
Defending world champion Fernando Alonso was even slower, as the Renault driver ended up 1.8 seconds off the pace in 15th place, although he only did eight laps - six less than title rival Schumacher.
A heavy rain shower 15 minutes before the start of the session left the drivers to deal with a wet and slippery track surface.
In fact, that left this morning's pace-setter Alex Wurz to deal with it, as the Williams tester was the only driver to set a time in the first 27 minutes of the hour-long session.
Midland test driver Markus Winkelhock was among the first men to put dry-weather tyres on his car as the track conditions improved. He lapped four seconds faster than Wurz instantly.
That triggered the big names into action. None more so than seven-time world champion Schumacher, who was the first to dip into the one minute 16-second bracket before Kubica knocked him from the top spot.
The hairpin at turn six continued to catch out the drivers as Raikkonen, Midland's Tiago Monteiro and Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi all went off there during the course of the session.
All recovered back to the track without suffering damage to their cars.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Kubica BMW-Sauber (M) 1:16.225 18 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:16.502 + 0.277 14 3. Doornbos Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:16.549 + 0.324 18 4. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:17.040 + 0.815 9 5. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:17.205 + 0.980 11 6. Davidson Honda (M) 1:17.294 + 1.069 26 7. Webber Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:17.344 + 1.119 6 8. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:17.516 + 1.291 10 9. Barrichello Honda (M) 1:17.519 + 1.294 13 10. Button Honda (M) 1:17.542 + 1.317 13 11. Fisichella Renault (M) 1:17.672 + 1.447 10 12. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:17.844 + 1.619 13 13. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:17.895 + 1.670 14 14. Winkelhock MF1-Toyota (B) 1:17.962 + 1.737 20 15. Alonso Renault (M) 1:18.082 + 1.857 8 16. Wurz Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:18.164 + 1.939 36 17. Klien Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:18.223 + 1.998 13 18. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:18.366 + 2.141 13 19. Jani Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:18.460 + 2.235 19 20. Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:18.616 + 2.391 10 21. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (M) 1:18.636 + 2.411 10 22. Albers MF1-Toyota (B) 1:18.643 + 2.418 11 23. Monteiro MF1-Toyota (B) 1:18.991 + 2.766 11 24. Villeneuve BMW-Sauber (M) 1:19.113 + 2.888 9 25. Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:19.232 + 3.007 12 26. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:19.365 + 3.140 8 27. Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda (B) No time 2 28. Rosberg Williams-Cosworth (B) All Timing Unofficial
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