McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa set a blistering pace at Jerez today, the second successive day that the Woking outfit has topped the timesheets.

The Spaniard posted the second best time of the year at the track, a mere 0.223s off Michael Schumacher's unofficial lap record.

Despite a foggy start to the day, which meant there was no on-track action until around 10;30, this gave way to blue skies and bright sunshine, with temperatures reaching 16 degrees C.

de la Rosa, who was joined by yesterday's pace-setter, Juan Pablo Montoya, completed an impressive 110 laps, posting a best time 1.65s quicker than his nearest rival, WilliamsF1's Antonio Pizzonia. His perfect day was a little tainted by an engine failure, but this happened just before the end of the session. The Colombian finished fourth quickest, splitting the two Toyotas.

Tomorrow (Thursday), Alexander Wurz and Kimi Raikkonen are in action, the Finn back behind the wheel of the McLaren for the first time since the Brazilian GP in October, when he finished second.

Mark Webber, driving the 'interim' WilliamsF1 FW26, spent the day evaluating brakes and tyre compounds, while Antonio Pizzonia, also at the wheel on an interim car, carried out systems checks and tyre evaluations. The Brazilian also carried out a number of practice starts in anticipation of the new regulations.

Tomorrow, Webber will be joined by Nick Heidfeld.

Jarno Trulli was the quicker of the two Toyota drivers on duty, the Italian out-pacing Ralf Schumacher, who suffered an engine failure in the afternoon, by a mere 0.113s. Jarno completed 126 laps of the Spanish track.

Renault tester Franck Montagny completed 69 laps as he worked on set-ups. The Frenchman was joined by Giancarlo Fisichella, who completed 90 laps and finished just 0.040s off the French test driver's pace. Both drivers conducted tyre tests, running through performance programmes evaluating both compounds and constructions. These programmes will be continued with longer runs tomorrow.

David Coulthard gave a good account of himself, the Scotsman easing into the Red Bull with ease, despite the Austrian outfit's denials that he was scheduled to test. Of the three Red Bull drivers on duty, DC was quickest, outpacing Klien and Liuzzi by 0.552s and 1.340s, respectively. That said, the Scot had a car to himself, while Klien only ran in the morining, before handing over to Liuzzi.

Jenson Button, at the wheel of BAR's concept car, was the quicker of the two drivers in action for the Brackley outfit, the other being Anthony Davidson, who was at the wheel of the 2004 car.

Marc Gene and Luca Badoer were in action for Ferrari, both drivers continuing with a development programme centred on Bridgestone tyres and new components. Tomorrow, Badoer is joined by Rubens Barrichello.

Times