Second practice - Kovalainen edges out Alonso in Istanbul 05 Jun 2009
Heikki Kovalainen headed the second practice session in Turkey on Friday afternoon, posting 1m 28.841s for McLaren during 90 minutes in which many teams focused on race preparation. Fernando Alonso closed to within 0.006s at the end with a lap of 1m 28.847s for Renault, and they were the only runners below 1m 29s.
Robert Kubica encouraged BMW Sauber with 1m 29.056s, to head Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima (1m 29.091s), Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel (1m 29.202s), Toyota’s Jarno Trulli (1m 29.207s), Williams’ Nico Rosberg (1m 29.257s), Brawn’s Rubens Barrichello (1m 29.305s), Red Bull’s Mark Webber (1m 29.383s), Nelson Piquet in the second Renault (1m 29.401s), Ferrari’s Felipe Massa (1m 29.416s), Brawn’s Jenson Button (1m 29.430s), McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton (1m 29.435s), Toyota’s Timo Glock (1m 29.518s), Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m 29.520s) and BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld (1m 29.550s).
Vettel’s Red Bull RB5 glided to a halt immediately after he had set the fifth fastest time, but after the car had been recovered from Turn Two he was able to go back out once an undisclosed mechanical problem had been rectified.
Once again, lots of people headed off the track. Hamilton spun twice, in Turns One and 10, and Nakajima spun in Turn Three and then again later in a clumsy duet with Giancarlo Fisichella in Turn 13. Sebastien Buemi, Heidfeld, Piquet, Sebastien Bourdais, Alonso, Massa and Adrian Sutil all ventured into the run-off areas. Again, nobody sustained any damage.
At the back, Sutil and Fisichella were well matched for Force India in 17th and 18th places on 1m 30.081s and 1m 30.091s respectively, while Bourdais headed Toro Rosso buddy Buemi with 1m 30.295s to 1m 30.629s.
