[McLaren4eVa]

Paul Ricard Day Two

Date: Wednesday 22nd March 2006
Location: Paul Ricard HTTT, Le Castellet, France
Weather: Dry with some sunny spells
Track temperature: high of 24.0 degrees Celsius
Air temperature: high of 22.9 degrees Celsius
Best lap time of the day: Heikki Kovalainen, Renault, 1m04.466
Duration of test: Four days (21st – 24th March


Renault test driver Heikki Kovalainen set the fastest time in testing at Paul Ricard in southern France as Renault, BMW and Toyota joined McLaren on track. It was a predominantly dry day at the circuit, the track a little damp first thing in the morning from yesterday's rain.

The teams were testing on the 3.9km 3E SC configuration of the circuit. Kovalainen's best time was 1m04.466s after 161 laps. He finished 0.4s up on McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa. The Spaniard covered the most mileage of any driver today with 169 laps - mostly of short and medium-length runs.

BMW tester Robert Kubica finished third fastest after 144 laps testing aerodynamic modifications before working ona Michelin tyre test. Behind Kubica, McLaren's second test driver Gary Paffett clocked a best time of 1m05.874s.

Ralf Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta were the only other drivers in action. The Toyota duo caused the only red flags of the day and managed only 119 laps between them.

1.Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1m04.466 161
2.Pedro de la Rosa Team McLaren Mercedes 1m04.866 169
3.Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1m04.970 144
4.Gary Paffett Team McLaren Mercedes 1m05.874 71
5.Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1m06.311 79
6.Ricardo Zonta Toyota 1m07.060 40

Testing at Paul Ricard continues tomorrow.