Wurz stays on top in practice 2

Wurz clocked a best time of 1:35.539 to outpace nearest rival, German teenager Sebastian Vettel in a BMW Sauber by just 0.040 seconds.

As these two battled it out at the top of the timesheets, the two drivers' championship rivals, defending champion Fernando Alonso and seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, were content to clock the sixth and fifth best times respectively.

Briton Anthony Davidson in a Honda was third fastest and Brazilian Felipe Massa in the leading Ferrari was fourth ahead of the two title rivals, Schumacher in his Ferrari narrowly outpacing Alonso's Renault.

On an overcast, dull and dreary afternoon, in front of only a few fans scattered around the vast grandstands at the enormous Shanghai International Circuit, the two Ferraris were quickly to the fore.

The air temperature was 25 degrees and the track temperature was 27 degrees Celsius, when the action began and Massa swiftly established himself at the top of the times with a lap in 1:36.599 seconds.

Michael Schumacher soon joined him with the second best time of the session after only 12 minutes and thereafter it was a matter of seeing who was going to better these early times.

Alonso went close soon after with a lap that was within one tenth and by the time the field had settled down halfway through the session that was the unchanged order.

Alonso's Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was fourth with a lap that was 1.1 seconds off the pace ahead of Australian Mark Webber in his Williams. Wurz, in his Williams, soon overhauled Webber.

Rain then began to fall and with 20 minutes remaining, the track was declared wet. This inevitably reduced the laptimes briefly in the closing minutes as a film of misty drizzle descended.

Tiago Monteiro in his Spyker MF1 Toyota went off and recovered at turn 16 before, with nine minutes to go, Vettel, 19, took over on top with a lap in 1:35.947.

This suggested that the track remained dry enough for continued use of normal 'dry' tyres and this impression was confirmed when Wurz went top, was overhauled again by Vettel and then recovered top spot.

The Austrian's best lap in 1:35.539 turned out to be the best of the session and brought Vettel's run of two successive Friday best times to an end.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Wurz          Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:35.539           26
 2.  Vettel        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:35.579  + 0.040  23
 3.  Davidson      Honda               (M)  1:35.714  + 0.175  30
 4.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:36.599  + 1.060   8
 5.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:36.641  + 1.102  12
 6.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  1:36.739  + 1.200  10
 7.  Montagny      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:37.278  + 1.739  26
 8.  Ammermuller   Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:37.678  + 2.139  26
 9.  Monteiro      Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  1:37.698  + 2.159  13
10.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  1:37.718  + 2.179  12
11.  Button        Honda               (M)  1:37.861  + 2.322  10
12.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:38.022  + 2.483   9
13.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:38.045  + 2.506   6
14.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:38.062  + 2.523  11
15.  Premat        Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  1:38.098  + 2.559  26
16.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  1:38.276  + 2.737  16
17.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:38.888  + 3.349  14
18.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:38.959  + 3.420  11
19.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:39.080  + 3.541  18
20.  Jani          Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:39.118  + 3.579  28
21.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:39.179  + 3.640   4
22.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:39.217  + 3.678   5
23.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:39.522  + 3.983  15
24.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:39.570  + 4.031  20
25.  Yamamoto      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:39.636  + 4.097  22
26.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:40.155  + 4.616  15
27.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:40.214  + 4.675  15
28.  Albers        Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  1:40.319  + 4.780  14
29.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:41.315  + 5.776   9

All Timing Unofficial