Friday June 21st, 2002

by Will Gray

Briton David Coulthard led a McLaren-Mercedes resurgence around the Nurburgring in the second of Friday's practice session to claim the fastest time of the day in preparation for Sunday's European Grand Prix.

The Scot, who won in Monaco two races ago, held onto the top spot with a time of 1:31.886 despite a late charge from World Champion Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari that saw the German claim second position, just 0.155 seconds behind his rival.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen, also of McLaren-Mercedes, was third fastest in a session that saw eight different cars have off-track excursions in the overcast and cool conditions.

Schumacher is believed to have had the score between Germany and the USA in football's World Cup quarter finals sent to him on his two-way telemetry during the session and despite the distraction he was still almost a second faster than his fourth placed Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello.

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, in the first of the Williams-BMW cars, was fifth fastest with his German teammate Ralf Schumacher sixth as tyre suppliers Michelin claimed four of the top six places in conditions usually suited to their rivals Bridgestone.

Italian Jarno Trulli, in the Renault, was seventh fastest with teammate Jenson Button eighth. Finn Mika Salo, of Toyota, and Frenchman Olivier Panis, of British American Racing Honda completed the top ten runners.

Brazilian Felipe Massa struggled and finished down in 16th place after two mistakes saw him go off at turns six and three during the session. Jordan's Takuma Sato also left the track twice and ended in 12th spot.

Ulsterman Eddie Irvine had a terrible session and ended in a Minardi sandwich between 20th placed Mark Webber and Malaysian Alex Yoong, who finished bottom of the pile, 5.617 seconds off the pace after stopping out on track three quarters of the way through the session.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                    Laps
 1.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:31.886  201.537 km/h  35  
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:32.041    +    0.155  38  
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:32.298    +    0.412  31  
 4.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:32.969    +    1.083  39  
 5.  Montoya       Williams BMW      (M)  1:33.122    +    1.236  35  
 6.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW      (M)  1:33.179    +    1.293  39  
 7.  Trulli        Renault           (M)  1:33.526    +    1.640  41  
 8.  Button        Renault           (M)  1:33.708    +    1.822  46  
 9.  Salo          Toyota            (M)  1:33.715    +    1.829  35  
10.  Panis         BAR Honda         (B)  1:33.921    +    2.035  54  
11.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:33.963    +    2.077  45  
12.  Sato          Jordan Honda      (B)  1:34.136    +    2.250  32  
13.  Frentzen      Arrows Cosworth   (B)  1:34.315    +    2.429  35  
14.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:34.322    +    2.436  46  
15.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda         (B)  1:34.522    +    2.636  39  
16.  Massa         Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:34.680    +    2.794  50  
17.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda      (B)  1:34.755    +    2.869  34  
18.  McNish        Toyota            (M)  1:34.941    +    3.055  38  
19.  Bernoldi      Arrows Cosworth   (B)  1:35.260    +    3.374  26  
20.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:35.372    +    3.486  30  
21.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:35.579    +    3.693  41  
22.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:37.503    +    5.617  36 

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 12:02:55 GMT

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