TEST REPORT BARCELONA - DAY TWO
Date: Tuesday 24th January 2006
Location: Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Drivers: Juan Pablo Montoya and Gary Paffett
Weather: Cold and sunny
Track temperature – high of 15.2 degrees Celsius
Air temperature – high of 13.6 degrees Celsius
Laps run: 143
Kilometres covered: Juan Pablo Montoya approx. 410km
Gary Paffett approx. 265km
Best lap time of the day: Marc Gene, Ferrari, 1m16.582
Duration of test: Five days (23rd – 27th January)
Juan Pablo Montoya had his first run in the Team McLaren Mercedes
MP4-21 at today's test in Barcelona, following its shakedown
at the Circuit de Catalunya yesterday. Juan Pablo covered
approximately 410km over 87 laps in the MP4-21.
The Colombian took to the track for the first time at 09:00
for an installation lap and began his longer runs shortly
after 10am, having allowed the track to warm up slightly.
The cold weather of yesterday had continued, with the track
only reaching 5 degrees Celsius by 12noon local time.
Juan Pablo's quickest time of the day was a 1m17.636, which
was the third fastest time of the day. He put in a number
of long runs, including a 21 lap stint shortly before lunchtime,
followed by 16 and 19 lap runs in the afternoon.
Team McLaren Mercedes test driver Gary Paffett continued
his programme of Michelin tyre work in the interim MP4-20.
Gary completed 50 laps of the Spanish track, covering over
230km prior to an accident shortly before 14:00, which was
as a result of the cold, low grip track. Gary was uninjured,
however his MP4-20 was badly damaged and the test team pushed
hard during the afternoon to get him back out on track for
the final 15 minutes of the session. This time allowed Gary
to take his total kilometres for the day to 265. The Englishman's
fastest time of 1m17.797 put him in fourth position on the
timesheets.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA
"It was great to get my hands on the MP4-21 today in
Barcelona. Actually I was at the shakedown yesterday for a
few hours. Having spent some time at the McLaren Technology
Centre recently I have seen the MP4-21 being built and I couldn't
wait until today to see the car on track! We have had an encouraging
day, it feels very similar to last year's car but a little
bit better, but it is very early stages. Our focus today was
similar to yesterday with Pedro, just continuing to work through
all the systems checks. We were able to cover over 400 kilometres,
and continue getting valuable data for the team to work on."
Unofficial times*:
Pos Driver Constructor Time Laps
1 Marc Gene Ferrari 1m16.582 88
2 Jacques Villeneuve BMW Sauber 1m17.631 93
3 Juan Pablo Montoya Team McLaren Mercedes 1m17.636 87
4 Gary Paffett Team McLaren Mercedes – V10 1m17.797
56
5 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1m18.393 25
6 Robert Doornbos Red Bull Racing 1m19.104 63
*no official times available
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