New Honda RA106 second fastest at Barcelona

By Phil Huff
January 27 2006

Honda Racing F1 continued testing their new RA106 car today, with Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button running at Barcelona, despite a cold start to the day.

Frozen gravel traps early in the morning delayed running but, once the Spanish sun came out, the track was opened and testing commenced. Both drivers continued to work on the general chassis set-up and development of the two brand new chassis.

Rubens completed 67 laps in total in chassis RA106-01, setting the second fastest time of the day – a 1:16.350, leaving him just 0.4 seconds behind the leading Ferrari of Felipe Massa, although Massa's car was the 2004 model fitted with a V8 engine.

Jenson completed 81 laps in chassis RA106-02, finishing just 0.3 seconds behind his team mate, and ahead of world champion Fernando Alonso. A best time of 1:16.746 was half a second ahead of arch rivals Toyota.

Anthony Davidson will take over chassis RA106-02 from Jenson tomorrow for the final day of the test.