Marc Gene made a strong return to testing duties for
Ferrari, pushing the F2005 interim car to the top of the Barcelona timesheets on the same day as the Scuderia was launching its new 248 model on track at Mugello.
The Spaniard set the best time of the day at the wheel of a hybrid Ferrari fitted with the now mandatory V8 engine and
Bridgestone tyres, clocking 1min 16.582secs to edge
BMW's Jacques Villeneuve - pacesetter on day one - back into second spot.
The Canadian worked on practice starts and basic set-up work with the recently-launched
F1.06 during the morning session, before embarking on several longer race distance runs after lunch. Nevertheless, the 1997 world champion managed a time of 1min 17:631secs to keep the best of the McLarens at bay.
The best of the orange cars on this occasion was
Juan Pablo Montoya's MP4-21, which the Colombian was running for the first time after it made its debut in the hands of Pedro de la Rosa on Monday.
Montoya covered approximately 410km over 87 laps, having first taken to the track in the 2006 machine as soon as the circuit opened for business. After a couple of installation laps, he began his longer runs shortly after 10am, having allowed the track to warm up slightly, but continued to be hampered in his attempts for a true evaluation of the new car as Monday's cold weather continued and track temperatures barely topped five degrees.
Montoya's quickest time was a 1min 17.636secs effort, but his focus was more on long runs - including a 21-lap stint shortly before lunch, and 16 and 19 lap runs in the afternoon - rather than testing the outright pace of the MP4-21.
"It was great to get my hands on the MP4-21 today," he revealed, "I was at the shakedown yesterday for a few hours and, having spent some time at the
McLaren Technology Centre recently watching the car being built, I couldn't wait until today to see the car on track.
