Karthikeyan stars for Bridgestone in wet practice.

The Jordan and Minardi drivers had a chance to shine in Friday's wet second practice session at Suzuka, as Bridgestone's extreme wet tyres proved superior to Michelin's offering.

The times tumbled towards the end of the session, and Narain Karthikeyan briefly went top, before being pipped by Giancarlo Fisichella. Christijan Albers was near the top of the times throughout, but eventually finished fifth, while Tiago Monteiro was sixth and Robert Doornbos tenth, despite an early spin in the second Minardi.

Karthikeyan knows Suzuka well, having raced there in Formula Nippon several years ago, but he had not previously seen the track in the wet.

"I did one Nippon race here on the short circuit and one on the long, but I never drove here in the wet," the Indian told Crash.net after the session, "Obviously, the tyres are working well, and I hope it's wet for the race now! The Michelin runners have had the advantage all through the year in the dry but, once in a while in the wet, we're not so bad."

Having led the way on Bridgestone rubber in the opening 45-minute session, Michael Schumacher didn't run at all in part two as the Ferrari team evaluated the extent of the damage to his Ferrari, while Rubens Barrichello sat out the driest part of the session, meaning that Bridgestone's true potential against Michelin in extreme conditions is yet to be realised.