Despite speculation earlier in the week that Ralf Schumacher had come to the end of the road with WilliamsF1, the German was back at the wheel of an FW26 today, setting the pace on the second day of testing at Jerez.

Once again, weather conditions were ideal, with bright sunshine and air temperature reaching 34 degrees C.

With Antonio Pizzonia ruled out, following an incident in his hotel in China, Monegasque veteran Olivier Beretta successfully deputised on Tuesday. Today, however, despite the fact that he wasn't meant to be on duty this week, Ralf Schumacher was back in action fro the Grove outfit.

The German did some chassis work in the morning, later testing tyres for the forthcoming Brazilian Grand Prix. Meanwhile, test and reserve driver Marc Gene, in the second FW26, worked mainly on starts and traction.

On a day when the top four drivers were covered by just 0.096s, McLaren's Alexander Wurz was second quickest ahead of BAR's Anthony Davidson. Once again, Wurz was joined by Pedro de la Rosa as the Woking team continued its preparations for Japan and Brazil, while BAR also had Enrique Bernoldi as it prepares for its second 'home' race of the year.

In addition to the runner up spot in the championship, Honda is extremely keen to do well at its home track therefore its Suzuka special was put through its paces today, in addition to a whole raft of aerodynamic solutions that will be introduced next week.

Montagny and Kovalainen were fourth and fifth quickest for Renault, respectively 0.096 and 0.118s off the pace. The French outfit is determined to take back the runner-up spot in the championship, therefore the pace shown this week will surely give the team a major confidence boost ahead of next weekend's race.

Jarno Trulli had another troubled day. Following yesterday's crash, the result of a puncture, the Italian had another 'incident'. As he approached the chicane, a suspension problem caused his rear ring to fall off. Fortunately the Italian was able to control the car and managed to keep it out of the barriers. At that point however, his right rear wheel fell off, leaving the TF104B stranded in the 'kitty litter'.

It has been a troubled couple of days for the Italian, and a difficult introduction to his new team.

Another driver having a torrid time at Jerez, was Luca Badoer, who, like Trulli, suffered his second 'incident' in 24 hours. Following yesterday's technical failure, which saw the Italian's Ferrari go head-first into the barriers, today's accident was put down to driver error. Michael Schumacher will take over from Badoer tomorrow (Thursday).

Times