Veteran Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer set the pace at the Bahrain International Circuit for the second successive day on Tuesday.
Badoer, who was again at the wheel of an F2004 fitted with a restricted V10, completed 62 laps. His best lap a 1 minute 31.225 seconds, around a second quicker than the time he set on Monday [a 1m 32.297s] and two tenths up on,
Jenson Button, who was 'best of the rest' for
Honda.
Like on Monday, Badoer was joined by
Felipe Massa, who used
Ferrari's 2006 car - the 248
F1. The Brazilian was fourth quickest, around seventh tenths slower and despite a 360-degree spin at the end of the 320 km/h main straight, he continued without damage notching up 68 laps. Once again the two Ferrari men were both focusing on set-up and tyre testing for
Bridgestone. On Wednesday,
Michael Schumacher will take over from Baoder.
Button meanwhile was only three hundredths up on
Rubens Barrichello, who was third overall, in the second Honda RA106. They both concentrated on finding the best balance, as well as tyre testing for Michelin, pretty much the same programme as was undertaken by testers,
Anthony Davidson and James Rossiter on day 1.
The only other runner on track was Vitantonio Liuzzi, running in the Cosworth powered RB1. His attempt to run a full race simulation for
Scuderia Toro Rosso though was halted when gearbox problems struck the car.
"Nevertheless, it was a reasonable day with signs of performance gain and general progress," stated
STR chief engineer, Laurent Mekies. "As expected, the track was much cleaner than yesterday which allowed us to be more precise in our set-up work. Also, track temperatures were much higher today which made for a more realistic simulation of what we can expect for the race here in three weeks time, which is particularly relevant as far as the tyres are concerned."
![Luca Badoer testing at the BIC in an F2005 fitted with an engine modified to comply with the 2006 technical regulations [Pic credit: Ferrari]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/186481.jpg)
