Day Two belongs to Raikkonen

Thursday 15th May 2008

Kimi Raikkonen concluded the second day of a three-day test at the Paul Ricard circuit in France with the fastest time this week.

On the shortened version of the track at just 3.593km in order to optimise set-up ahead of next weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari star Raikkonen posted a best time of one minute 5.381secs.

Reigning World Champion Raikkonen, who currently leads this year's Championship standings, edged out fellow Finn and McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen by 0.090secs.

Both drivers also improved on yesterday's quickest effort from Lewis Hamilton as the young Briton set a time of 1:05.600.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica was third fastest, albeit half a second down on Raikkonen, appearing to underline the German manufacturers have fallen off the pace set by Ferrari and McLaren in the Turkish Grand Prix at the weekend.

Britons David Coulthard and Jenson Button were fourth and fifth for Red Bull and Honda on the unofficial timesheets, followed by Sebastien Bourdais for Toro Rosso.

On home turf, the Frenchman at least did not wreck the new STR3 as he did on the car's debut in last month's test in rcelona, which forced the team onto the backfoot.

Jarno Trulli was seventh in his Toyota, with under-pressure Nelson Piquet in close attendance in his Renault.

The Brazilian completed a remarkable 193 laps, almost 700kms, as he looks to atone for a poor start to his rookie season.

Williams' Kazuki Nakajima was ninth fastest of the 11 drivers on view as Force India's Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella split their team's driving duties, and were 10th and 11th respectively.

To conclude the test, the teams will on Friday use a different configuration of the track to replicate aspects of the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal for next month's Canadian Grand Prix.

Times
1 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 01:05.381 102 laps
2 H. Kovalainen McLaren 01:05.471 89 laps
3 R. Kubica BMW 01:05.905 135 laps
4 D. Coulthard Red Bull 01:06.001 82 laps
5 J. Button Honda 01:06.091 155 laps
6 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:06.125 110 laps
7 J. Trulli Toyota 01:06.205 120 laps
8 N. Piquet jr. Renault 01:06.355 193 laps
9 K. Nakajima Williams 01:07.080 129 laps
10 A. Sutil Force India F1 01:07.104 66 laps
11 G. Fisichella Force India F1 01:07.123 64 laps

Related Links
Day One: Hamilton outpaces Kimi in France

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