Webber fastest on day two

Webber took nearly one-and-a-half seconds off Tuesday's time, clocking 1:18.628 after 72 laps as his Scottish team-mate David Coulthard was forced to retire early after suffering mechanical problems.

Home hero Fernando Alonso achieved the fourth fastest time on his only day of testing behind the wheel of his Renault.

The Spaniard's former McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who led Tuesday's session, was sixth fastest.

Hamilton, who was the recent victim of racist taunts in Barcelona, received a warmer reception from the crowd in southern Spain with many fans travelling from the tiny British overseas territory of Gibraltar, just 100km away.

The Spanish fans' behaviour was seen as a reaction to perceived favouritism by McLaren for Hamilton last season at the expense of Alonso, who has since rejoined Renault.

"The McLaren stable didn't ask us to take any particular security measures for the three days of testing but in any case we never had problems of this type here," Jerez circuit officials said.

Renault's Nelson Piquet also had to cut short his session by an hour after his car caught fire, while Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais could not finish his last lap after running out of petrol.