Sato Goes Quickest at Silverstone - Day Two

BAR-Honda driver Takuma Sato headed the timesheets on the second day of testing at the Silverstone circuit, where the fine weather allowed the teams to carry out their programmes after the rain hit the British track on Tuesday.

Japanese Sato, who yesterday saw his running cut short due to a problem with the gearbox, enjoyed a better day today, completing 73 laps with the 006 chassis. Sato posted a quickest time of 1:18.089, outpacing Brazilian Cristiano da Matta in the Toyota by less than a tenth of a second.

World Champion Michael Schumacher was third quickest in the Ferrari F2004, the German continuing with a tyre test programme. Schumacher was joined today by Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello, who was fifth fastest in the second Ferrari.

The McLaren team continued putting miles in their revised MP4-19B chassis which debuted yesterday at the British circuit. Finn Kimi Raikkonen was again the man in charge of driving the Mercedes-powered car, managing to complete 66 laps on his way to the fourth fastest time of the session.

Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya took over from Spaniard Marc Gene at the wheel of the FW26, the Colombian covering a total of 90 laps as the Grove team continued with their preparation work for the Canadian Grand Prix. Montoya finished as sixth quickest while Brazilian tester Antonio Pizzonia was ninth in the second Williams.

Renault's Jarno Trulli was the busiest driver today with 129 laps at the wheel of the R24, the Italian just outpacing his teammate Fernando Alonso, eighth fastest.

"A very positive day for us, particularly on the engine side as we reached our targets with the engine evolutions planned for Canada," said Renault's chief test engineer Christian Silk. "The rest of the day was dedicated to testing tyre compounds, and we found some interesting improvements."

The Jordan-Ford team kicked off their test today and worked with both their racing drivers Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano. Both men enjoyed a productive day but finished at the bottom of the timesheets.

Testing resumes tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:18.089 73 2. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:18.144 124 3. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:18.288 77 4. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:18.454 66 5. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:18.502 34 6. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:18.646 90 7. Trulli Renault (M) 1:19.111 129 8. Alonso Renault (M) 1:19.158 85 9. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:19.291 47 10. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:20.564 112 11. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:20.755 78 12. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:21.345 75 All Timing Unofficial

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