Jerez Day 2: Kobyashi sets the time for Sauber

Private testing continued today in Jerez in the south of Spain. With once again tricky weather conditions on the track, it was Kamui Kobayashi who set the best lap. The Japanese driver, with the brand-new BMW-Sauber, achieved his best time just a few minutes before the end of the day. He then knocked off the first place from the Toro Rosso – very surprising during these tests – of Sébastien Buemi.

Sébastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso was above the rest for most of the session, which started with a slightly damp track. He only kept improving and driving to make up for the mileage lost during yesterday’s relentless rain. The Swiss driver was a perfect leader until Kobayashi joined the fray with a time of 1:19.950.

Jenson Button finishes third, despite his McLaren stopping on the track in the last ten minutes. Nico Hülkenberg also had to stop at the beginning when his Williams suffered a hydraulic leak. This problem was quickly resolved, and the German finished the day in fourth position, ahead of an impressive performance by Tonio Liuzzi in the Force India.

Michael Schumacher with Mercedes is in sixth place and Fernando Alonso is only seventh for Ferrari. But both drivers, and especially their cars, completed longer stints today. The German completed 35 laps in a single stint and Alonso did 48.

The Iberian was particularly tenacious with a time of 1:21.928 towards the end, while Schumacher remained at 1:23. Alonso completed the most laps of the day with a total of 129.

« I am very happy with the way the day went even though we couldn’t complete our program due to the red flags, » said Schumacher. « However, I managed to complete a large number of laps, which was very valuable to me. »

« A new car, a new team, and new conditions, our first goal was to make the car reliable. Days like today massively contribute to achieving this goal. Especially since the weather forecast for the coming days shows persistent rain. I felt very comfortable in the car, and it was a lot of fun today. »

Renault has decided to put Robert Kubica in the car today so that their most experienced driver can benefit from dry track time. The forecasts for the remaining two days suggest several interruptions due to rain. Vitaly Petrov, who was initially lined up for Renault today, will be back in the car tomorrow. Kubica finishes in eighth position, ahead of Mark Webber in the Red Bull and Timo Glock’s Virgin.

The latter had a difficult day, triggering a red flag when his front wing detached on track. Virgin quickly identified the cause of the problem, but the need to bring in spare parts meant the end of the day for Glock with only 11 laps completed…

Results Private Tests Jerez – Day 2 – Thursday, February 11, 2010: