Silverstone test, day 2: Wilson flies

The British ace completed a massive 82 tours of a very wet and greasy Northamptonshire track, just six laps less than Alesi in the second Jordan. Wilson, despite his 6ft 3in frame, had no problems settling in to the EJ11 and managed to get through the day with out an off and on the pace.

"I'm just getting used to it all and it's a very steep learning curve," Wilson told Autosport.com. "The seat was made for me and it was quite comfortable. I've got this padding in the cockpit where my knees are and they aren't hurting at all. In fact, my F3000 car has more padding than this."

Wilson has dominated this year's F3000 championship, winning the title by 32 points, and the 23-year-old has two days' running with the Jordan team this week in the hope of landing a race or test seat next year.

"It was a lot of fun," he enthused. "The acceleration was so much more than anything else I have known. Even in the wet under braking it has so much grip and it is still two or three seconds quicker than my F3000 car in the dry. We are working on things for next year and it would be nice to get in a car on a regular basis."

Other teams were also braving the elements at Silverstone and completing preparations for next weekend's US Grand Prix. While Alesi was top of the time sheets ahead of McLaren test driver Alex Wurz yesterday (Tuesday), the pair swapped places with Wurz taking over at the top today.

The Austrian was the only man to dip into the 1m33s bracket as he refined his wet weather set-up, while team mate David Coulthard worked on electronic systems. The Scot completed 19 tours and numerous practice starts, but did not set a time as he came through the pit lane every lap.

Jaguar's Eddie Irvine was third fastest just ahead of Wilson, then came Oliver Panis in fifth place behind the F1 rookie. The pair were using the same Bridgestone development tyre and Panis had another difficult day after stopping out on the circuit during the morning session and then spinning at Luffield corner in the afternoon.

Pedro de la Rosa was sixth in the second Jaguar, followed by the Benettons of Jenson Button and Mark Webber in seventh and eighth. Testing continues tomorrow (Thursday).

Alexander Wurz, McLaren-Mercedes B, 1m33.52s, 61
Jean Alesi, Jordan-Honda B, 1m34.11s, 88
Eddie Irvine, Jaguar-Cosworth M, 1m34.34s, 52
Justin Wilson, Jordan-Honda B, 1m34.72s, 82
Olivier Panis, BAR-Honda B, 1m35.24s, 68
Pedro de la Rosa, Jaguar-Cosworth M, 1m36.13s, 53
Jenson Button, Benetton-Renault M, 1m36.33s, 25
Mark Webber, Benetton-Renault M, 1m36.95s, 12
David Coulthard, McLaren-Mercedes B, no time set, 19