Just like the day before, the 2nd testing session on the Portuguese track was heavily affected by the weather conditions. The track was wet during the first part of the day, but gradually dried out towards the mid-day. However, rain started to come down once again in the afternoon, followed by a hail storm later on.
Under the circumstances, testing laps were reduced to less than 50 per driver, the only exception being McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa. The Spaniard tried out the McLaren MP4-24 for the second time this week and test-drove it for an overall 62 laps, finishing 3.083 seconds behind Buemi. That made De la Rosa the fastest driver testing a 2009 challenger on Portimao for the second day running, as he finished 2nd on the timing sheets on Sunday.
Third overall was Toyota's veteran Jarno Trulli. The Italian got his first taste of the new TF109 yesterday, after test driver Kamui Kobayashi had inaugurated the 2009 challenger at Portimao on Sunday. Trulli finished almost 5 seconds behind De la Rosa, but well clear of Renault's Nelsinho Piquet and Williams' Nico Rosberg (also on his first test drive with the new FW31).
Piquet ended his testing at Portimao – as he is to be replaced by teammate Fernando Alonso for the 3rd and 4th day of testing – with an engine problem that kept him off the track for most of the day. He only got to drive around for 9 laps, before the engine failed on him. The Renault mechanics did not manage to solve the problem in due time.
Portimao testing session – Day 2 times:
1. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:34.429 48
2. Pedro de la Rosa ( McLaren-Mercedes) 1:37.512 62
3. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:42.399 30
4. Nelsinho Piquet ( Renault) 1:45.860 9
5. Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) 1:51.580 31
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