Silverstone winner, Juan Pablo Montoya, topped the timesheets on the second day of testing at Jerez.

One again, conditions were ideal with temperatures reaching 32 degrees C (air) and 47 degrees (track).

The Colombian, who was joined by Alexander Wurz, who was standing in for Kimi Raikkonen, who withdrew from the test due to stomach pains, continued the Michelin tyre testing of the prime and option tyre for the forthcoming 1 German Grand Prix and the Hungarian race as well as more suspension development work.

Alex meanwhile continued with his programme concentrating on the Michelin tyre selection for the German Grand Prix focusing on long runs with the option tyre.

Second quickest was Takuma Sato, albeit 0.46s off Montoya's pace. The Japanese driver alternated between two cars, his regular car and a 'hybrid' version fitted with electrical components due to be used in 2006. Once happy with the car, he ran through a bodywork cooling evaluation, followed by a set-up programme.

Jenson Button meanwhile, continued his aero evaluation, completing a total of 103 laps. The English driver, who is understood to be frustrated by his car's performance, finished seventh quickest, 1.2s off the pace.

Third quickest was Felipe Massa, who crashed heavily in the morning, following a wheel rim failure, which brought the Swiss team's day to an early conclusion.

"In the morning we had a very good session and achieved a decent lap time," said Paul Russell. "Things went really well and we were trying to catch up the time we lost yesterday with the red-flag periods. Then Felipe unfortunately experienced a rear left rim failure caused by a foreign object trapped inside the suspension components. He went off track at the entry of turn 5 and damaged the car in such a way that it was not possible to go on with the test today.

"It's really a shame, but it's more important that Felipe is okay," he added. "We will rebuild the car and have it ready tomorrow morning for Jacques to concentrate on the major development programme items."

Giancarlo Fisichella completed 137 laps for Renault, while working on suspension development, set-up and tyre testing. Franck Montagny spent a productive morning working on tyre evaluation before being delayed by technical problems in the afternoon.

"We had a very good day with Giancarlo, who achieved more than we had hoped this morning," said Chief Test Engineer, Christian Silk. "His work on suspension development brought us useful data, and he also looked at some set-up items for the coming races. Most of all, he was able to take full advantage of excellent reliability on his car.

"Franck suffered some problems during the afternoon, but had an effective morning working on tyre choice for the races ahead. Tomorrow, Heikki will replace Giancarlo for the final day of this last session before the summer testing ban."

Once again, Toyota had three drivers on duty, a development that is causing a stir with some of the other 'rebel' teams. Zonta and Ralf Schumacher ran their 'regular' cars, while Olivier Panis continued with the new 2.4 litre V8.

The Frenchman managed just 12 laps - 10 more than on Wednesday - before the new power-plant detonated.

Red Bull had David Coulthard and Christian Klien on duty, between them they covered 178 relatively untroubled laps.

It was another difficult day for Antonio Pizzonia, who was running the new BMW V8, which failed after 22 laps, having managed 8 more than on Wednesday. The Brazilian was joined by Nick Heidfeld.

"Today, Antonio continued testing the FW27B (V8) car carrying out systems checks for BMW," said Tim Newton. "Nick started driving today to work through a planned programme to understand the Mk2 bodywork after the problems we experienced at the French and British GP's. As such, he conducted various mechanical set-ups and aerodynamic testing in the FW27A. He worked on a different mechanical set-up all day. We also went through some aerodynamic checks on the car, such as bargeboard modifications and a different front wing. WilliamsF1 is a winning team and we are determined to overcome the current difficulties with the FW27 and return to competing at the front."

At 13:00 (local time), everyone present observed the international two-minute silence in tribute to the victims of last Thursday's terrorist attack in London.

The test, which is the last before the summer 'break', concludes on Friday.

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