Wurz spoils the party

Alex Wurz spoiled a South American clean sweep in practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos today with a late flying lap.

The Austrian test driver set a best time of one minute 12.083seconds, signalling McLaren’s intent to cling on to their fading hopes of a world championship double.

McLaren number one Kimi Raikkonen is clinging on by a thread to his hopes of the world championship, with Renault’s Fernando Alonso only needing third place this weekend to claim the crown.

But McLaren have refused to concede defeat and arrived in Sao Paulo aiming for their first one-two for over five years.

Wurz’s late lap spoiled the South American celebrations, knocking McLaren colleague Juan Pablo Montoya off top spot in the dying seconds.

Colombian driver Montoya was joined at the top of the timing sheets by a trio of fellow South Americans, with Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta leading the Brazilian charge in third.

Zonta was just 0.012secs slower than Montoya, with Sauber’s Felipe Massa and Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello just behind in fourth and fifth respectively to give Brazilian fans reason to cheer.

Raikkonen was handily placed in sixth place while Jacques Villeneuve showed a surprising turn of pace to drag his Sauber to seventh.

Outgoing world champion Michael Schumacher enjoyed a rare spell at the top of the timing screens early in the session.

The Ferrari driver was pushing hard for the pace which has eluded him for much of this season, spinning after eight minutes as he found and exceeded his car’s limits.

The end of Schumacher’s five-year reign at the top of Formula One has been a tame affair for the German and he could offer little hope for a late-season resurgence in practice, ending up eighth.

Alonso was down in 11th place while Red Bull’s David Coulthard was 15th and BAR-Honda’s Jenson Button a disappointing 17th.

Christian Klien suffered a session to forget, wrecking his Red Bull car against a tyre wall with 20 minutes remaining.

The Austrian driver lost control at turn nine and slammed hard into the barrier at a part of the track where little run-off area is available for protection.

Mark Webber was another driver to lose control in second practice, spinning his Williams harmlessly through the grass with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Wurz set the standard this morning when practice began at Interlagos. The McLaren test driver was fastest with a lap of 1min 11.701secs, beating his competition by over a second.

Takuma Sato responded to the news he is out of a drive for next season by setting the second fastest time.

The Japanese driver’s hopes of a race seat at BAR-Honda were dashed when Button was able to buy his way out of a Williams deal to stay on at Brackley.

But Sato responded positively and set the fastest time for a race driver, beating Alonso’s Renault into third place.