After being sidelined by a clutch problem in the day's opening session, Raikkonen roared back with a lap of one minute 14.513 seconds in the second to raise the struggling team's spirits.

McLaren are fifth in the championship with a mere 17 points from nine races, the team's worst start in decades. Sunday will be the race debut for the heavily revised MP4-19B car.

Briton Jenson Button was second fastest for BAR, 0.055 slower, and ahead of Ferrari's six times world champion Michael Schumacher on a cloudy and gusty morning.

McLaren had already been given a boost with Briton David Coulthard setting the second best time behind Schumacher in the first session.

Raikkonen's time was the fastest yet at the circuit, which was redesigned at the end of 2002, and well inside last year's pole position, set by Ralf Schumacher in a Williams, of 1:15.019.

Renault also looked strong in the first session, the first of the weekend with any sort of meaningful times after heavy showers on Friday.

Spaniard Marc Gene, standing in for the injured Ralf following the German's heavy crash at Indianapolis two weeks ago, was 11th quickest in the second session.

Colombian team mate Juan Pablo Montoya, who crashed on Friday, brought up the rear with the slowest time of the final session before qualifying after lapping seventh fastest in the early morning.