Jerez Day 2 – Buemi ahead of Sato, Bourdais is behind

Sébastien Buemi for Scuderia Toro Rosso once again impressed during the second day of testing in Jerez, Spain. The Swiss driver outclassed his teammates just like yesterday.

Buemi set a time of 1:18.073, more than half a second ahead of the second place, Takuma Sato, also driving for Toro Rosso.

Buemi and Sato worked alongside Sébastien Bourdais, the three men fighting for the two racing seats of the Italian team. The four-time Champcar champion was the slowest of the trio, finishing in third place.

Pedro de la Rosa’s McLaren is in fourth position. He worked for the first time on the new 2009 front wing on a revised MP4-23A.

The Spaniard was joined by Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen, who drove a car equipped with the KERS system. Kovalainen was sixth behind his compatriot Kimi Räikkönen, the fastest among the two Ferrari drivers present that day.

Räikkönen lamented the lack of mileage done today, stating that the track was still wet this morning.

« We didn’t cover many kilometers over these two days because the conditions weren’t really ideal. We mainly focused on the tires. »

« It is pointless to speculate on what will happen in the future. Too many things are different at the moment. To get an accurate idea, we must wait until all teams are at the same stage. »

Räikkönen’s teammate, Felipe Massa, joined him at 3:30 PM. The Brazilian came straight from his country and participated in the session, completing 27 laps.

The double world champion Fernando Alonso returned to action after his podium finish at the last Brazilian Grand Prix. The Spaniard was the only Renault driver on the track today. He completed 105 laps and caused a red flag when he went off the track in the morning.

The BMW-Sauber duo consisting of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica finished 9th and 11th respectively. The Pole only completed 38 laps after his stop on the track around 2 p.m., which required a red flag.

The third red flag of the day was caused by Williams driver Nico Rosberg.

Results of Private Tests – Jerez – December 10, 2008