F1: Barcelona test � day two: 1 May.

[Rory Phoulorie]

Kimi Raikkonen again set the pace on the second day of Formula 1 testing at Catalunya, although the arrival of the expected heavy rain played havoc with the testing programmes of the eleven teams.

Raikkonen posted a best time of 1min 30.280secs which was comfortably clear of second placed Mark Webber, but the fact that the Finn's quickest lap was some nine seconds slower than on Monday was an indication of how track conditions had changed. Raikkonen was also the busiest driver during the day with some 54 laps under his belt � although none of the twelve drivers present were able to put in any serious mileage due to the rain.

Some 1.5secs behind Raikkonen in second place, Webber completed his first laps of the week for Red Bull after taking over from team-mate David Coulthard, while the top three was completed by Heikki Kovalainen, who took over at the wheel of the lone R27 from test driver Nelson Piquet. The heavy rain meant Kovalainen was unable to take to the track until after lunch, before he completed 53 laps of the Spanish circuit while focusing on set-up improvements � the Finn collecting �interesting' data in the changing, tricky conditions.

�Clearly, we didn't follow the programme we had initially planned owing to the poor conditions, but it was still a useful day for myself and the team,� Kovalainen admitted. �Personally, I tried to use every lap to improve something: trying a new line, or pushing the braking points a bit further. The track was changing all the time, and we were able to run the wet and extreme wet tyres today. To be honest, I enjoy driving in the wet, it's different to normal and good fun for the drivers.�

Kovalainen was only just ahead of Nick Heidfeld, who continued to run at the wheel of the lone BMW Sauber and ended the day just 0.026secs behind the Renault man. Heidfeld only completed 17 laps over the course of the day as he briefly checked the balance of the F1.07 in the wet and will now hand the car over to team-mate Robert Kubica for the remainder of the test. Nico Rosberg completed similar running to Heidfeld in the Williams-Toyota while the top six was rounded out by Rubens Barrichello at the wheel of the only Honda in action.

Ralf Schumacher stepped aside to allow Jarno Trulli to take over for Toyota, although the Italian was restricted to just 21 laps by the wet conditions. Having had to wait until lunchtime to hit the track, he did a few short runs to check systems before the rain returned and he was forced to end his day's running.

�All I can say is that it has been a wet day,� he said. �The weather and conditions have been so bad that it has been pretty much impossible for any of the teams to get any meaningful work achieved. We managed to do some work on systems and electronics in the few laps that we were able to do, but that's about it. Hopefully we will have a better day tomorrow. The forecast is better so let's hope we can get some more useful results then.�

Takuma Sato was eighth for Super Aguri, while the top ten was completed by Toro Rosso driver Tonio Liuzzi and Spyker's Adrian Sutil.

Sutil was only able to take to the track in the afternoon after the team completed repairs to the F8-VII damaged in Adrian Valles' shunt on Monday, although further torrential rain meant his test lasted just eleven laps, team-mate Christijan Albers taking over at the wheel tomorrow.

'Unfortunately, due to the inclement weather conditions, we could only do a limited number of lap,� chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne said. �The boys did a fantastic job working through the night to repair the car from yesterday's accident, so thanks to them, but due to a shortage of spare parts, we didn't want to risk too much.

�Hopefully we will have much better conditions tomorrow in the morning when Christijan takes over and we'll be able to get some more representative information.'

Scott Speed was eleventh quickest for Toro Rosso, sharing the car with Liuzzi, while defending champion Fernando Alonso failed to set a representative lap time as he only emerged from the pit-lane for a slow exploratory lap before the team decided there was no benefit of doing serious running.

Testing continues tomorrow, and will now also continue into Thursday due to today's rain.

Testing times (1 May) - Barcelona:

1. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari-Ferrari 1min 30.280secs 54 laps
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1min 31.752secs 39 laps
3. Heikki Kovalainen Renault-Renault 1min 32.149secs 53 laps
4. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1min 32.175secs 17 laps
5. Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1min 32.580secs 45 laps
6. Rubens Barrichello Honda-Honda 1min 32.911secs 44 laps
7. Jarno Trulli Toyota-Toyota 1min 32.943secs 21 laps
8. Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1min 33.238secs 40 laps
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1min 33.323secs 38 laps
10. Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1min 35.488secs 11 laps
11. Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1min 39.560secs 7 laps
12. Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 2min 04.818secs 1 lap

all times unofficial � courtesy Renault

Track/weather conditions: Heavy rain and wet conditions throughout the day. Track temperature, 21.1�c / Ambient temperature, 15.9�C

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