Water leak hampers Briscoe

Briscoe, a former German Formula 3 champion, was eighth fastest in the opening session but slipped to 21st due to the problem in the second period.

"Today was my first experience of being a part of the race team and I really enjoyed it," said Briscoe. "I am happy with the general result and with the work that we have achieved. It was quite difficult to reacquaint myself with the track in the first session, as the grip level was very low, so I just took it easy and was gradually getting more and more confident.

"Unfortunately we had a water leak at the end of my second long run, which meant that I had to finish early this afternoon. That was a little frustrating because I had not run on new tyres during the session and I was looking forward to putting in a competitive time. Although I was driving the standard TF104 chassis today, I had the B-spec aero package, which is a definite improvement."

It was a positive day for Toyota, with Olivier Panis winding up fifth fastest overall in his TF104B.

"The weekend has started off in a very positive way," he said. "We had two productive sessions without any problems. I am working with a new team on my car from this weekend, but the fact that I know all the guys has been a big help. Now we need to concentrate on tomorrow in order to try to keep our current pace."

Ricardo Zonta, who has been promoted from Friday duties at the expense of Cristiano da Matta, said: "It was a quite comprehensive day for me with many things to do. On my final run with new tyres, I unfortunately made a mistake in the last corner so that my best lap time of the day was actually done on old tyres. Generally, I felt very comfortable driving one of the race cars in practice for the first time."