Wednesday February 11th, 2004

Briton Jenson Button continued to set the pace at the Jerez circuit, on the second day of testing at the Spanish track.

Button, who had already gone fastest on Tuesday, again finished at the top of the timesheets as his BAR-Honda team continued to show impressive form in pre-season testing. The Brackley-based team's good day was completed by Button's teammate Takuma Sato, who in the second 006 car finished right behind Button.

The Japanese driver was involved in one of the incidents of the day, when his car lost a front wheel at the end of the main straight. Sato's car stopped on the gravel and the session had to be stopped.

Frenchman Franck Montagny was the quickest of the non-BAR drivers with the Renault R23, while his teammate Jarno Trulli continued with the development of the new R24 chassis. The Italian posted the fifth fastest time of the day after 102 laps.

The Williams team kicked off their testing programme at Jerez, working with Ralf Schumacher and test driver Marc Gene. Both men worked at the wheel of the BMW-powered FW26, with Schumacher outpacing Gene by less than a tenth of a second.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen also joined the test today, replacing Austrian Alexander Wurz at the wheel of one of the two McLarens in action. Raikkonen had a productive day, completing a total of 95 laps on his way to the seventh fastest time of the session. His teammate David Coulthard, who caused the session to be stopped when he went off the track in the afternoon, also covered more than 90 laps and was ninth quickest.

Australian Mark Webber and his Austrian teammate Christian Klien carried out testing duties for the Jaguar team, both men driving the new R5 car. Webber, who was not present at Jerez on the first day, was eighth fastest while Klien finished down in 11th.

Ferrari again had only one car on track, an F2003-GA driven by Luca Badoer, who could only set the 10th fastest time of the day after 109 laps. Sauber's Felipe Massa was 12th quickest ahead of Italian teammate Giancarlo Fisichella.

Jordan finished at the bottom of the times for the second consecutive day, with German Nick Heidfeld outpacing Italian Giorgio Pantano, who looks set to land the second racing seat at the Silverstone-based team.

Testing at Jerez continues tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine         Tyres  Time     Laps
 1.  Button        BAR-Honda            (M)  1:16.977  108
 2.  Sato          BAR-Honda            (M)  1:17.273   59
 3.  Montagny      Renault              (M)  1:17.297  109
 4.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW         (M)  1:17.357   83
 5.  Trulli        Renault              (M)  1:17.408  102
 6.  Gene          Williams-BMW         (M)  1:17.411   71
 7.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:17.826   95
 8.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth      (M)  1:17.890   57
 9.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:17.972   96
10.  Badoer        Ferrari              (B)  1:18.070  109
11.  Klien         Jaguar-Cosworth      (M)  1:18.168   99
12.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas      (B)  1:18.937   63
13.  Fisichella    Sauber-Petronas      (B)  1:19.283   44
14.  Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford          (B)  1:20.109   51
15.  Pantano       Jordan-Ford          (B)  1:21.584   24

All Timing Unofficial