Reigning Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais topped the timesheets on the second day of testing at Laguna Seca, setting a new lap record in the process and earning a surprise $5,000 cheque from series owner Kevin Kalkhoven. Will Power was second quickest for Team Australia, with Neel Jani third for PKV Racing.

The lap record was previously held by Ricardo Zonta, driving a Toyota F1 car.

Prodrive are said to be about to announce the purchase of Aston Martin from Ford.

The deal arguably makes sense for both Prodrive and Aston Martin, not least because of their connection through running their DBR9 in the American Le Mans Series and the Le Mans 24Hours.

Although it remains to be seen whether the buyout will have an affect on Aston Martin’s racing competition, or even become linked with Prodrive’s burgeoning F1 effort, the £500million sum that has been mooted for the brand appears to suggest that David Richards is serious about his new purchase.

Prodrive will enter F1 in 2008, so a hook-up with Aston Martin certainly makes sense from a marketing point of view.