Montoya Stays Ahead in Practice 2

McLaren dominated Friday's second practice for the United States Grand Prix after the session was red flagged when Ralf Schumacher crashed into the same corner he hit in last year's race.

Juan Pablo Montoya followed up his session-topping time in the morning session with a lap of 1:11.118 that made him the fastest driver of the day by 0.110 seconds from teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

The McLaren duo, who tipped themselves to do well around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, were clear at the front with Ferrari, whose driver Rubens Barrichello set the third fastest time of 1:11.746, their closest rivals.

World Champion Michael Schumacher, who finished second behind Raikkonen at the last race in Canada, made it a good day for Ferrari as he set the fourth fastest time of the session.

Nick Heidfeld finished fifth for Williams, his teammate Mark Webber finishing down in 13th place despite completing a total of 24 laps, and David Coulthard made it into sixth place for Red Bull Racing.

Test driver Pedro de la Rosa, usually the fastest of the McLaren drivers, finished seventh while American driver Scott Speed made the most of his chance to test in front of his home crowd when he finished eighth for Red Bull.

Renault driver Fernando Alonso finished a lowly ninth fastest, two places ahead of teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, with Jarno Trulli completing the top ten in what was a difficult session for his Toyota team.

The session was marred when Ralf Schumacher crashed into the wall after just 13 minutes when the rear end of his Toyota suddenly snapped away on entry and he was spun into the barriers at high speed on his first flying lap.

McLaren had hit the pace immediately to put their three cars in the top three positions with ten minutes gone as Raikkonen led Montoya with De la Rosa, who suffered problems in the morning session, in third.

Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta lost control at turn six and managed only six laps in the session while Felipe Massa had a minor spin in his Sauber but was able to return to the pits before Ralf had his accident.

The session was halted for 21 minutes while the Toyota was craned away and the track was cleared of debris, which included a driveshaft and many shards of carbon fibre.

Coulthard, who had moved into third, then spun at the end of the main straight under braking for turn one but completed a 360-degree rotation and drove down the escape road.

Raikkonen was forced to take to the escape road after missing his braking point at turn one, Schumacher went across the grass at turn 11, Barrichello went off at turn one and Narain Karthikeyan went off in his Jordan at turn eight.

Montoya and Raikkonen traded places at the front with Ferrari pair Barrichello and Schumacher around half a second behind them in third and fourth respectively with ten minutes remaining.

Jordan's Tiago Monteiro and Karthikeyan, again, both suffered spins at turn eight and Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella went off at the first corner as he pushed for an improved time in the final minutes.

Pos  Driver        Team                  Time                  Laps
 1.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:11.118               21
 2.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:11.228  +    0.110   24
 3.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:11.746  +    0.628   22
 4.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:11.758  +    0.640   22
 5.  Heidfeld      Williams-BMW      (M)  1:11.825  +    0.707   24
 6.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:12.076  +    0.958    9
 7.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:12.119  +    1.001   37
 8.  Speed         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:12.143  +    1.025   34
 9.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  1:12.265  +    1.147   28
10.  Trulli        Toyota            (M)  1:12.344  +    1.226   10
11.  Fisichella    Renault           (M)  1:12.384  +    1.266   29
12.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:12.464  +    1.346   25
13.  Webber        Williams-BMW      (M)  1:12.578  +    1.460   24
14.  Klien         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:12.664  +    1.546   20
15.  Button        BAR-Honda         (M)  1:12.803  +    1.685   24
16.  Sato          BAR-Honda         (M)  1:13.037  +    1.919   26
17.  Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:13.079  +    1.961   23
18.  Doornbos      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:13.361  +    2.243   36
19.  Zonta         Toyota            (M)  1:13.567  +    2.449    6
20.  Friesacher    Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:13.783  +    2.665   16
21.  Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:13.963  +    2.845   24
22.  Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:14.008  +    2.890   31
23.  Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:14.336  +    3.218   35
24.  R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  No Time                 2

All timing unofficial