Toyota's Ricardo Zonta topped the timesheets on the second day of testing on the 3Esc configuration at the Paul Ricard HTTT.

Shortly after the session began the rain started to fall, and so it continued for much of the day. With nine of the teams having agreed to a 30-day test limit, each day of testing is precious, therefore this was not what anyone really wanted.

Toyota in particular has opted to cancel its planned test day on Friday, opting to "save" a day for later in the season. McLaren has followed the Japanese team's example.

Because of the conditions, nearly all the fastest times were set in the first hour, the exception being Zonta, in the 2004 car, who posted his best time in mid-afternoon once the rain had stopped and the track had dried.

Teammate Jarno Trulli, still buoyant following his second place in Malaysia, was brought down to earth when a spin into the barriers brought his day to an early end.

"It was quite an eventful two days for us this week," said Dieter Gass, chief race and test engineer, "with some technical problems affecting our running. With Ricardo we were using the TF104B car to assess Michelin tyres for Imola, as well as more general tyre development testing. We are pleased with the results that Ricardo was able to collect over two days.

"Olivier also worked on tyres yesterday, more specifically on option tyre evaluation for Bahrain. He also carried out some software development work over his 70 laps. Jarno was due to begin set-up and aero work for next weekend's Bahrain GP, but poor weather and a spin into the barriers late in the day hampered his running.

"We nevertheless feel confident enough for Bahrain and decided to stop our programme one day earlier than planned to save one of our restricted number of test days."

The McLaren duo of Pedro de la Rosa and Alexander Wurz, both running MP4-19Bs, finished second and third.

The conditions allowed both drivers to test a new Michelin intermediate tyre, then, in the afternoon, the Spaniard evaluated a new front suspension package for the MP4-20, while his Austrian teammate concentrated on further development of the Michelin tyres.

"Despite the changeable weather conditions we managed to do a lot of work today on both car set-up and also intermediate tyre testing," said de la Rosa. "We have completed a good two days testing programme."

Franck Montagny and Heikki Kovalainen continued with the world championship leader's programme, both focused primarily on accumulating mileage for reliability work, and set-up developments.

"The rain shower this morning interrupted our running," admitted Christian Silk, "but we were nevertheless able to conduct useful software development and reliability running in less than ideal conditions. Once the circuit had dried, both drivers began set-up programmes and made good progress. Overall, we had another useful day."

Jenson Button was on duty for BAR, along with Anthony Davidson. In the morning, both drivers completed just 17 laps as a result of the conditions.

In the afternoon, as conditions improved, Button completed a short run on shallow wet tyres before moving onto an aerodynamic programme and engine development work. Davidson spent the afternoon session continuing the tyre evaluation which he began in the morning.

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