Sutil quickest as Button stays dry

Persistent rain greeted the drivers for the second 90-minute session, which saw championship leader Jenson Button and title rival Rubens Barrichello remain in the BrawnGP garage.

Sutil topped the timesheets in his Force India with a best lap time of one minute 47.261 seconds, nearly seven seconds slower than Heikki Kovalainen's fastest lap in the morning.

Sebastian Vettel was second, with Vitantonio Liuzzi claiming third in the other Force India and Lewis Hamilton fourth.

Only the two Toro Rosso drivers initially braved the wet conditions but both soon returned to the pits without completing a lap after encountering streams of water on parts of the circuit.

With only a limited amount of wet-weather tyres at their disposal, teams were reluctant to put in too many laps and, as the rain continued, the possibility of no further action seemed a real possibility.

But with half an hour to go, Fernando Alonso's Renault emerged from the pits only to return without completing a lap. Jamie Alguersuari eventually set a time of 1:56.848 but Alonso bettered that by over eight seconds when he did complete a lap with 12 minutes left.

That was the prelude to a flurry of activity as all but Button, Barrichello and Heikki Kovalainen emerged to complete some late laps.

Kovalainen had earlier set the fastest time in first practice as Formula One returned to Suzuka after a two-year absence.

Japan's Kazuki Nakajima was second in his Williams, with Sutil third, Giancarlo Fisichella's Ferrari fourth and Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso fifth. Hamilton ended the session in sixth but Button finished way down in 18th, well behind Barrichello in ninth.