FUJI SPEEDWAY (Japan) - TOYOTA'S Timo Glock surprised front-runners McLaren and Ferrari on Friday by emerging fastest after the second practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The 26-year-old German, on his first visit to the venue at the foot of Mount Fuji, topped the timesheets with a lap of 1min 18.383secs, set just 31 minutes into the 90-minute session.

Glock's best time was four one-hundredths of a second faster than Renault's Fernando Alonso, the winner in Singapore two weeks ago who clocked his best lapwith eight minutes left.

World championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who topped the first free practice session, was third for McLaren.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who trails seven points behind Hamilton in the title race, was fourth, while teammate and reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen was fifth.

Glock was just 18th in morning practice as he attempted to get to grips with the 4.56 kilometre layout.

But while his Friday featured at least six minor off-track excursions, his best lap was well inside the benchmark time of 1:18.734 set by Hamilton in the dry at Fuji Speedway last year.

The top seven drivers, which also included sixth-placed Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing and local favourite Kazuki Nakajima in a Williams, were all equal to or inside Hamilton's best time last year.

Remarkably, 11 different drivers sat on top of the times at various stages on Friday afternoon, and Webber and Nakajima recorded an identical time of 1:18.734. -- AFP