Michael Schumacher shrugged off his early woes to roar back into contention atthe United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis today.
The German missed the entire first session after his Ferrari conked out on hisopening lap but he repaid his mechanics for quickly fixing the problem byclocking the third fastest time in final practice.
Schumacher did go top of the time-sheets when he finally got onto the trackbut was later relegated a couple of places as team-mate Rubens Barrichellofinished fastest from Renault's Jarno Trulli to end the Italian's domination ofevery session so far.
But Schumacher was just fractions behind Barrichello and ahead of his tworivals for the drivers crown with Juan Pablo Montoya fourth for Williams andKimi Raikkonen sixth for McLaren.
Schumacher leads Montoya by three points with Raikkonen just four pointsfurther adrift with tomorrow's race and the season finale in Japan on October 12left.