Jerez test - day two: October 11.

Ferrari number one driver, Michael Schumacher topped the times at Jerez on Wednesday, as the Scuderia locked out the top-two places for the second day in succession.

Schumacher competed over 100 laps, his best a 1 minute 16.238 seconds, the only driver to break the 1min 17sec bracket and only six tenths off the track record, set incidentally by the German back in September 2004. Schumacher concentrated mainly on evaluating Bridgestone tyres for the final round of the 2006 championship, the Brazilian Grand Prix on October 22. Luca Badoer was second in the sister car, although he was over a second slower, his fastest time, a 1m 17.311s. Badoer worked on the development of new components aimed at next season, notching up 92 laps in total. Both will continue running on Thursday.

Robert Kubica meanwhile was third for BMW Sauber, the Polish ace 'best of the rest' after the Ferraris', around two tenths off Badoer. Kubica was the only driver on track for the Swiss-based squad with two cars at his disposal.

"Robert had a busy day in Jerez jumping between two cars - chassis 06 and 07," read a statement from the team. "He set his fastest time in the morning in 07 and the programme for this car was mainly to test small detail parts for next year. The work on 06 included different tyres and transmission development. On top of these programmes the team also completed some set-up and aero work."

McLaren-Mercedes duo, Pedro de la Rosa and Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top five, split by less than fourth hundredths of a second. Both were focusing on set-up work and final Michelin tyre evaluations for Brazil. In addition to this, the programme also included an ongoing development programme for next year.

Further-down the order, Ricardo Zonta was sixth for Toyota, the Brazilian having a productive day and notching up 111 laps: "Today's running was really positive," confirmed the Brazilian. "We got a lot of laps in and were able to cover a lot of tyre test items. It is hard to say that the track here is comparable to that in Sao Paolo, especially because the circuit there has changed so much and the weather is unpredictable. But you can say that the traction is similar. Today I believe the track conditions here changed greatly between the morning and afternoon sessions. If we would have put new tyres on the car in the morning, I feel that we could have had a better lap time. Tomorrow we will continue this testing to see how the track and the tyres behave before we make a final decision."

Olivier Panis was also on track for Toyota and like Zonta, the Frenchman had a trouble-free day, without any major issues. He managed 95 laps in total in his TF106 and was eighth on the timesheets, three tenths off Alex Wurz's Williams.

"Quite honestly, today was an ordinary day for me," noted Panis. "I spent the whole day collecting data and doing comparisons in order for the team to be able to analyze data they needed for the race strategy. The track conditions were okay, the car ran well and I look forward to working on the Brazil tyre programme tomorrow."

Of the rest, Narain Karthikeyan was the only other runner on track. Like on Tuesday, he and Wurz were again running in modified FW28's fitted with the Toyota V8 engine. In total the Grove-based outfit managed 177 laps, Karthikeyan getting in a proper days running after mechanical issues restricted him to just 11 laps on day one.

"Today in Jerez, Narain carried out some engine tests for Toyota in the morning as well as completing an aero test on some new parts and brake work in the afternoon," explained Williams test team manager, Mike Condliffe. "Alex also worked on brake tests and then traction control development. Both drivers completed their planned tyre testing in the afternoon to round off a successful day."

Renault and Spyker MF1 were also testing today, but not at Jerez, both preferring to run at Silverstone in the UK, where heavy rain dogged proceedings. Indeed it was so bad Nelson Piquet Jr only managed a few installation laps in the R26 and did not set a time. Ernesto Viso was also affected by the poor weather conditions, but was satisfied with what he got done in the M16.

"Despite very difficult rainy conditions I think we did some good work. I really enjoyed my first run in an F1 car and I am looking forward to Brazil," he noted. "The factory team and the whole Spyker MF1 test crew have been fantastic and really have worked hard. They weren't scared of getting wet to keep sending me back out of the garage!"

"Ernesto did a good job today, familiarising himself with the team and the car's control systems," added Spyker MF1 head of race and test engineering, Dominic Harlow. "We began to accumulate mileage on some development gearbox parts and several control systems development items. Despite the bad weather Ernie impressed the team with his enthusiasm and approach and I'm sure he will make a very useful contribution to the programme in Brazil in ten days time."

Testing now continues on Thursday.

Leading times (October 11) - Jerez:

1. Michael Schumacher Ferrari-Ferrari 1minute 16.238seconds 117 laps B
2. Luca Badoer Ferrari-Ferrari 1min 17.311secs 92 laps B
3. Robert Kubica BMW-Sauber 1min 17.575secs 120 laps M
4. Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 1min 17.788secs 80 laps M
5. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1min 17.818secs 62 laps M
6. Ricardo Zonta Toyota-Toyota 1min 17.988secs 111 laps B
7. Alex Wurz Williams-Toyota 1min 19.072secs 90 laps B
8. Olivier Panis Toyota-Toyota 1min 19.342secs 95 laps B
9. Narain Karthikeyan Williams-Toyota 1min 20.474secs 87 laps B

B denotes Bridgestone tyres / M denotes Michelin tyres

Weather / Track conditions: Sunny and dry.

all times unofficial - courtesy of the official Circuito de Jerez website