The Englishman endured a frustrating morning in Bahrain when he was forced to sit out the morning session with a gearbox problem.

But he bounced back in the second hour to set the pace for much of it.

Davidson even survived a last gasp attempt by Williams test driver Alex Wurz to beat his 1m31.353s best. The Austrian was baulked by a slower car as he entered Turn 13, ensuring the Honda man stayed top.

Wurz was forced to settle for third fastest time in the end as Michael Schumacher also sneaked ahead in the dying minutes of the session.

Both Ferrari's looked pacey with Felipe Massa fourth fastest, nearly half a second behind his team-mate.

But of the Bridgestone runners, they and Wurz's Williams were the only ones anywhere near the pace. Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli's Toyotas were 22nd and 24th!

World champion Fernando Alonso was fastest for a while before dropping to fifth in his Renault, although you got the sense there is much more in the bag.

Likewise his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella who finished eighth.

Vitantonio Liuzzi stoked the fires of controversy as he lapped quickly in the V10-engined Scuderia Toro Rosso machine.

The Italian's best lap put him second fastest until he was beaten down in the final moments of the hour, nevertheless his speed will not doubt be a cause of consternation to those who predicted the team will be a threat.

Jenson Button, squeezed into the top ten, but neither he nor Rubens Barrichello (18th) will be concerned by their positions when considering Davidson's pace up front.

BMW's Robert Kubica followed up a strong first hour with tenth in the second, still faster than the team's two race drivers.

Nick Heidfeld was 14th behind Christian Klien's Red Bull and the McLaren duo, while Jacques Villeneuve did his usual Friday thing near the bottom of the times - expect more from him tomorrow.

Kimi Raikkonen (12th) could have gone faster but, like Trulli, was forced to stop on the track with a technical problem halfway through the session.

Juan Pablo Montoya was just behind his team-mate in 13th.

Neel Jani and Scott Speed were next up in the remaining Toro Rossos ahead of Mark Webber's Williams.

David Coulthard was 19th having just out-paced Tiago Monteiro's Midland, while rookie Nico Rosberg was 21st.

The two Super Aguris remained locked to the bottom of the times although between the two drivers Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide they completed 40 laps in total - belying early fears of reliability issues.


Bahrain free practice session two results

1.  DAVIDSON     Honda       1m31.353s

2.  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari     1m31.751s

3.  WURZ         Williams    1m31.764s

4.  MASSA        Ferrari     1m32.175s

5.  ALONSO       Renault     1m32.538s

6.  LIUZZI       Toro Rosso  1m32.703s

7.  DOORNBOS     Red Bull    1m32.926s

8.  FISICHELLA   Renault     1m33.215s

9.  BUTTON       Honda       1m33.226s

10. KUBICA       BMW         1m33.244s

11. KLIEN        Red Bull    1m33.557s

12. RAIKKONEN    McLaren     1m33.577s

13. MONTOYA      McLaren     1m33.726s

14. HEIDFELD     BMW         1m33.848s

15. JANI         Toro Rosso  1m33.900s

16. SPEED        Toro Rosso  1m34.284s

17. WEBBER       Williams    1m34.333s

18. BARRICHELLO  Honda       1m34.384s

19. COULTHARD    Red Bull    1m34.432s

20. MONTEIRO     Midland     1m34.459s

21. ROSBERG      Williams    1m34.953s

22. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota      1m35.170s

23. WINKELHOCK   Midland     1m35.686s

24. TRULLI       Toyota      1m35.898s

25. VILLENEUVE   BMW         1m36.264s

26. ALBERS       Midland     1m36.314s

27. SATO         Super Aguri 1m37.588s

28. IDE          Super Aguri 1m39.021s

A very  topsy turvy  look Im sure you will agree....and with the new  qualifying format...COULD  be  an interesting good -  whose quick for that BUT may not have the best reliability