McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya went even quicker on the second day of testing at Monza, shaving another 0.049s off the unofficial lap record he posted on Wednesday.

After having four drivers on duty on Wednesday, today the Woking outfit reverted to the more traditional line-up, with just Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo on duty.

Both drivers continued with Michelin tyre selection and configuration work for the Italian Grand Prix, with some time spent on tyre work for the Belgian race at Spa Francorchamps in two weeks time.

"It was a positive session for me today at Monza," said Raikkonen. "We completed our scheduled programme and set-up work for the Italian Grand Prix went well, I am looking forward to the race. It was a bit of a difficult afternoon for us yesterday because we had to spend some time working on the car following the minor issue with the gearbox. However the team worked really hard to get the car out on track to complete a couple of installation laps, which set us up for the good running today."

"It has been an encouraging test this week," added Juan Pablo, "the car has run really well at Monza, and it feels quick. We put in some quick times, and hopefully we can keep this pace for the race. I have completed a number of long stints over the course of the test and have some valuable information for the tyre selection process with Michelin for both Italy and Spa."

With five races of the 2005 season remaining, and just 4 of its allotted 30 test days remaining, the Woking team worked hard in order to get through its programme in just 2 days, and will therefore miss tomorrow's session.

It was a mammoth day's testing for Renault, with the team completing 1600 km in a single day with two cars. Giancarlo Fisichella completed nearly three race distances, while Fernando Alonso was close to two and a half. The heavy workload focused on tyre and brake testing, and was designed to protect the team against the forecasted threat of rain disrupting running tomorrow.

"We had a big programme to run today, and it required a disciplined approach to get everything done," said Chief Test Engineer, Christian Silk. "The bulk of our work was on tyre testing - compounds and constructions for both Monza and Spa. We also took time to conduct brake evaluation and tick this off our job list for the Grand Prix here in Monza, and also completed some set-up work for next weekend and the following race in Spa."

WilliamsF1 will be buoyed by Mark Webber's pace, the Australian finishing fourth quickest, albeit 1.1s off Montoya's pace. Webber was joined by Nick Heidfeld, who was making his Monza debut with the FW27.

"Mark and Nick were on duty for the team today," said Tim Newton. "The pair completed aero tests, tyre evaluations and set-up work on both cars for next week's GP here. We also carried out further investigations following the tyre incidents that occurred during last weekend's race."

Having opted to sit out the first day of testing - due to the 'greenness' of the track - BAR was on duty today, with Jenson Button, Takuma Sato and Adam Carroll all in action.

Jenson had a productive morning running through an aero evaluation, while Takuma's morning session was interrupted by a gearbox problem which limited his running to 22 laps.

Carroll, at the wheel of a development car for 2006 systems, completed three runs acclimatising himself to the car and the circuit.

Jenson continued his planned programme in the afternoon session running through a tyre evaluation, alongside set-up work for the forthcoming Monza race. Takuma had a more productive session in the afternoon as he ran through a tyre evaluation.

Ferrari had Michael Schumacher and Luca Badoer on duty, both at the wheel of F2005s, as they worked on a development programme focussing on aerodynamics, engine and Bridgestone tyres for the forthcoming Grand Prix.

Red Bull continued making progress, with Christian Klien joining David Coulthard today. Between them the Cosworth-powered duo completed almost 170 laps without problems.

Jacques Villeneuve concluded his programme with Sauber, with Felipe Massa taking over on Friday.

"Today we finalised the race specification for Jacques' car and confirmed the aerodynamic parts for Monza," said Paul Russell, the Swiss outfit's test engineer. "We also started to work with Michelin on the tyre selection programme for the forthcoming Grand Prix, which we will continue with Felipe tomorrow. Apart from this Felipe will help us to validate Jacques' results from the last two days and work out a basic set-up for his car for the Italian Grand Prix."

After Ralf Schumacher's problems yesterday, today it was Ricardo Zonta's turn to suffer, as Toyotas experienced another difficult day at the office. The Brazilian, driving the TF105B, failed to post a time as he encountered a number of different problems.