Heinz-Harald Frentzen was sixth fastest with Trulli two tenths of a second slower in seventh place.

'I'm satisfied with what we did this morning,' said Frentzen. 'Everything went okay. I must say it's very nice to have no problems in either session. It enabled me to run different set-ups and fine-tune the car. Everything went according to plan and I think we are pretty competitive for qualifying. Having said that, the lap times show it's very, very close. I think it's going to be difficult to qualify in the top six - but we'll do our best!'

Trulli lost vital running time during the first of the two 45-minute sessions this morning thanks to a misfire caused by a short-circuit in the wiring loom of his Benson & Hedges Jordan Honda.

'It's a shame,' said Trulli. 'I lost time with the electrical problem when I could have been trying different things on the car. I got going eventually but the delay has cost me development time, and that's made things difficult because the times are so close. There's not much more I can say at the moment except hope for the best this afternoon.'

For the second day running hot, but slightly less humid, conditions made the going difficult for drivers on the 3.45-mile Sepang circuit. The ambient temperature reached 33 deg C, with the all-important track temperature touching 45 deg C.

Rubens Barrichello was fastest for Ferrari with a lap time over a second faster than pole position for last year's race. Ralf Schumacher produced a surprise with second fastest time for Williams and Michelin, the next three places filled, as expected, by Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard, the McLarens split by the fourth-place Ferrari of Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher was one of several drivers to have off-course excursions, the most spectacular going to Juan Pablo Montoya as he spun while trying to make up for time lost yesterday with a number of mechanical problems. The Williams driver was 13th fastest. Britons Eddie Irvine (Jaguar) and Jenson Button (Benetton) were eighth and 17th fastest respectively.


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Jordan Grand Prix