14/12/2005
NEWS STORY
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Renault test driver Franck Montagny topped the timesheets on the second day of testing at Jerez, but it was Narain Karthikeyan, the quickest of the V8 powered drivers, who stole the show, and further staked his claim on the test driver role at WilliamsF1.
Running was delayed during the morning as a result of cold circuit temperatures, which prevented useful running until the track had warmed up sufficiently. While a light rain shower interrupted the afternoon session.
Renault had Franck Montagny and 2006 third driver Heikki Kovalainen on duty, the Frenchman working on tyre development for 2006 while the Finn worked on suspension evolutions. Heikki was the busiest man today, completing 104 laps.
"Our work was delayed while the circuit came up to temperature this morning, but after that everything ran like clockwork," said Christian Silk, the French team's chief test engineer. "Obviously, the cooler temperatures at this time of year make it imperative to use track time effectively as possible, and we did a good job of that today, completing a total of 201 laps."
Karthikeyan, in his second outing for WilliamsF1, was 0.36s down on Montagny, but almost a second up on the Grove outfit's race driver, Mark Webber, having previously out-paced the team's other racer, Nico Rosberg.
Third quickest was Felipe Massa, Ferrari's sole representative, in a (restricted) V10 powered F2005. The Brazilian continued with development work for Bridgestone.
Ricardo Zonta was the quickest of three Toyota drivers, as Olivier Panis shared the second car with fellow-Frenchman Franck Perera. Zonta was one of several drivers, including Anthony Davidson, Juan Pablo Montoya and Karthikeyan to cause the session to be red-flagged during the day.
Anthony Davidson and Adam Carroll were both driving Honda 'concept' cars. Davidson ran through an early aero evaluation before concentrating on chassis set-up work, while Carroll, having his first drive in a V8-engined car, began acclimatising himself to the interim machine before running through an early aero programme, completing 43 laps.
In the afternoon, Davidson continued to work through his programme, while Carroll focussed on some engine set-up work.
Juan Pablo Montoya joined Pedro de la Rosa with the focus on the Mercedes-Benz V8 and Michelin tyre work.
Juan Pablo was eighth on the timesheets, with Pedro two places behind. The Team McLaren Mercedes drivers set times of 1m20.206 and 1m20.886 respectively, covering 124 laps and 540km in total today.
Tomorrow's test will mark the final session of 2005 for the Woking team, with Juan Pablo and Pedro remaining at the wheel of the two interim MP4-20Bs.
Nick Heidfeld, who was again running a Sauber C24B car powered by a BMW P86 V8 engine, succeeded in completing the scheduled programme, as the team focussed on tyre evaluations along with cooling system checks. The Grove team continues here tomorrow, with further tyre assessments, fuel system testing and practice starts planned.
To check out our Jerez test picture gallery, click here