By BMW Sauber F1
April 24 2009

In the second free practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the BMW Sauber F1 Team continued its preparations for the race on Sunday. Robert Kubica finished 17th, while Nick Heidfeld had to settle for 20th. The session was held in searing heat, with temperatures reaching 36° C, resulting in track temperatures of more than 55° C. Nonetheless, it was business as usual for the BMW Sauber F1 Team: In the 90-minute practice session on Friday afternoon, the team once again focused on tyre evaluations and set-up work for the race on Sunday.

While the majority of the other teams used the closing stages of the session to set a fast lap time on a light fuel load, Robert and Nick both carried out extensive long-runs. Consequently, they were not able to beat the promising laps times set in the morning session.

Robert was the faster of the BMW Sauber F1 Team pairing. The Pole completed a total of 31 laps in five stints. On his 22nd lap, he crossed the line in 1:34.605 minutes to finish 17th.

Nick was slightly busier than his team-mate. During the course of his five stints, the German completed 33 laps and set his personal fastest lap time of 1:34.790 minutes on his 24th lap. The fastest time of the session was set by Williams' Nico Rosberg who crossed the line in 1:33.339 minutes.

In Saturday's third practice session, starting at 11:00hrs local time (09:00hrs BST), the BMW Sauber F1 Team will complete its preparations for the remainder of the weekend. In the qualifying session, starting at 14:00hrs local time (12:00hrs BST), Robert and Nick will fight for promising grid positions for the fourth race of the season