Jerez testing – Day 2 round-up

On his return to the Renault team, Fernando Alonso has impressed, topping the timesheets on day two of testing at Jerez.

The Spanish driver took to the track in last year s Renault F1 car, the R27, eventually putting in a best time of 1:19.503 in the late afternoon. His time was just one tenth ahead of the McLaren of Pedro de la Rosa, with Kimi Raikkonen s Ferrari just five hundredths further down.

Nico Rosberg was impressive in the FW29 setting the day s fourth fastest time, just ahead of the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa, and the second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen.

New Toyota driver Timo Glock took to the track for the team for the first time and finished in a solid 11th place. The team s test driver Kamui Kobayashi drove the 2007 car with the 2008 car s electronics and gearbox and finished last overall, although he did have issues with his exhaust mid-way through the day which saw him lose a lot of track time.

Super Aguri had logistics problems the team had overheating problems on the first day of testing and were waiting for new parts to be delivered. Unfortunately, the parts did not turn up in time and James Rossiter was unable to put any laps of the track in.

The second day of testing saw less red flags than the first with just three red flags throughout the day De la Rosa caused the first as he went off track early on in the session, with Kazuki Nakajima causing the second red flag around midday. Towards the tail end of the session, Sebastien Bourdais stopped on track causing the final red flag of the day.

Testing times for Day 2 at Jerez (15/01/2008)

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Alonso Renault 1:19.503 70
2. De la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 1:19.650 111*
3. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:19.708 90*
4. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:19.756 81
5. Massa Ferrari 1:19.772 85*
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:19.780 130*
7. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.305 86
8. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.346 76
9. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:20.392 80
10. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:20.526 66
11. Glock Toyota 1:20.598 109*
12. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:20.764 76
13. Kobayashi Toyota 1:22.060 55

* = 2008 car