Motor Sport: Alex Wurz set the pace when practice began for the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring this morning as Michael Schumacher made a quick start on home ground.
Test drivers, without the pressure of conserving their engines, traditionally top the times in Friday practice and this morning was no different with Williams tester Wurz the man to beat.
The Austrian's lap of one minute 32.079 seconds was 0.320secs faster than Honda counterpart Anthony Davidson, while BMW-Sauber test driver Robert Kubica completed the top three.
But those times matter little and Schumacher came out on top in the battle of the race drivers.
The Ferrari driver's win at Imola two weeks ago came with the help of Bridgestone tyres and some of his rivals questioned whether than pace would translate to the Nurburgring.
But Schumacher started well, claiming fourth place with a time three quarters of a second faster than his nearest racing rival, Honda's Jenson Button in sixth. Red Bull tester Robert Doornbos was fifth.
Rubens Barrichello continued his gradual improvement with new team Honda, clocking the seventh fastest time, one clear of McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, on engine partner Mercedes' home turf.
Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso was one of 12th drivers not to set a time, including Red Bull driver David Coulthard.
Franck Montagny settled in quickly to life as a Super Aguri racer after his last-minute call-up to replace the under-performing Yuji Ide.
Ex-Renault test driver Montagny will become the first Frenchman to race in Formula One since 2004 on Sunday and he was put through his paces this morning.
He completed 16 laps, running across the gravel on one, but came within a tenth of a second of team-mate Takuma Sato.