Jerez test - day two: 13 December.

Heikki Kovalainen set the pace on the second day of testing at Jerez as nine more teams joined Toyota in the final Formula One OUTING of 2006 at the Spanish circuit.

In what is scheduled to be the last on-track test for the championship winning R26, Kovalainen spent his first day of testing continuing with the programme started in Barcelona and continued at Jerez last week, which involved working with Bridgestone on tyre development and also putting more mileage on the new gearbox that will be used on the teams 2007 challenger.

Completing over 100 laps during the course of the day, Kovalainen posted a best time of 1min 19.466secs which put him four tenths of a second clear of Luca Badoer, who was second quickest for Ferrari.

"We made good progress in all the different areas especially regarding the tyre and the new gearbox," the young Finn reported. ""We recorded good data which will be a good basis for 2007."

Behind Badoer - who worked through a programme focused on development of a new gearbox and mechanical components on his Ferrari 248 F1 - the opening day of testing for Honda produced encouraging results for Christian Klien and James Rossiter who posted the third and fourth fastest times with Giancarlo Fisichella completing a similar programme to team-mate Kovalainen and ending the day with the fifth fastest time.

"It was a good first day of testing," test engineer Christian Silk said. "We completed our programme on both cars and enjoyed a trouble-free day which is quite satisfying as we are running the two cars with the new gearbox this week."

Like rivals Renault, McLaren spent the third test since the conclusion of the season working on Bridgestone tyre development. Test drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett were charged with taking to the track for the first day of testing, with de la Rosa emerging from the day with the sixth quickest time. Paffett, on his first run in the car since the switch from Michelin rubber, was eleventh fastest.

Felipe Massa was seventh fastest for Ferrari ahead of Nick Heidfeld, the German concentrating on set-up work and testing of new components while also completing some Bridgestone development work. Heidfeld was following on the time sheets by Jarno Trulli, who completed a trouble-free first run of the week for Toyota.

"We had a normal test today and it went well," he said. "I managed to complete a lot of laps and I was mainly trying different things on the car to find a good balance. It was my first time on the new tyres at Jerez and they are obviously much slower than last year's tyres were around here. There is a lot of work we need to do to understand them fully but so far so good."

Behind Trulli, Toyota team-mate Franck Montagny rounded out the top ten as he brought his time at the wheel this week to a close, although it was a day hit bY mechanical problems that forced him to miss most of the morning running. Montagny will be replaced at the wheel by Olivier Panis on Thursday as the experienced Frenchman brings his career in Formula One to a close.

"Today, I was expecting a good day and it was not," he said. "We stopped after three laps with a minor issue on the car, something we never had before and took quite a long time to fix. I didn't go out again until the afternoon so we didn't have a lot of time to do the set-up work but we did the comparison work we wanted to do and that is a good thing. We carried on from yesterday but we still have plenty of work to do to find a perfect set-up on the car."

Following Paffett on the timesheets, youngster Sebastien Vettel completed set-up work in the second BMW Sauber and also carried out an aerodynamic test in the afternoon plus a systems check programme including differential and traction control. He was just ahead of Japanese duo Kazuki Nakajima and Takuma Sato, running for Williams and Super Aguri respectively.

For Nakajima, the day was spent completing more mileage at the wheel of an F1 car to claim a superlicence, and he wracked up just under 100 laps to achieve his aims for the day in what was only his second session at the wheel of the car.

"Kazuki was driving on our first day back in Jerez and weather conditions were much more favourable than on his first run last Friday," Mike Condliffe, test team manager, said, "The aim was for him to complete a sufficient number of laps to be able to qualify for a superlicence, which he comfortably achieved. Towards the end of the session, Kazuki practised starts to familiarise himself with the procedure. He has had a very successful day and should be very pleased with his performance."

Sato, meanwhile, was at the wheel of the Super Aguri 'interim' car for the first day of three, and worked on evaluation of the Bridgestone tyres while also trying different set-up changes and engine programmes.

The two Red Bull teams brought up the rear of the field, with Michael Ammermuller 15th for the senior squad, posting a time of 1min 21.369secs from his 92 laps at the wheel of the Red Bull-Ferrari. He was followed by Toro Rosso driver Vitantonio Liuzzi, who outpaced Champ Car World Series title winner Sebastien Bourdais by seven tenths of a second as the Frenchman made his first appearance in an F1 car since 2002.

Testing continues tomorrow.

Leading times (December 13) - Jerez:

1. Heikki KovalainenRenault-Renault1min 19.466secs114 laps
2. Luca BadoerFerrari-Ferrari1min 19.898secs79 laps
3. Christian KlienHonda-Honda1min 19.999secs128 laps
4. James RossiterHonda-Honda1min 20.017secs98 laps
5. Giancarlo FisichellaRenault-Renault1min 20.107secs101 laps
6. Pedro de la RosaMcLaren-Mercedes1min 20.130secs111 laps
7. Felipe MassaFerrari-Ferrari1min 20.158secs80 laps
8. Nick HeidfeldBMW Sauber-BMW1min 20.211secs86 laps
9. Jarno TrulliToyota-Toyota1min 20.244secs94 laps
10. Franck MontagnyToyota-Toyota1min 20.484secs56 laps
11. Gary PaffettMcLaren-Mercedes1min 20.540secs89 laps
12. Sebastien VettelBMW Sauber-BMW1min 20.564secs96 laps
13. Kazuki NakajimaWilliams-Toyota1min 20.860secs96 laps
14. Takuma SatoSuper Aguri-Honda1min 20.977secs122 laps
15. Michael AmmermullerRed Bull-Ferrari1min 21.369secs92 laps
16. Vitantonio LiuzziToro Rosso-Cosworth1min 21.840secs68 laps
17. Sebastien BourdaisToro Rosso-Cosworth1min 22.518secs82 laps

Weather/Track conditions: Cold to start with, sunny and warm during the afternoon

All times unofficial - courtesy of McLaren Mercedes