TEST REPORT - PAUL RICARD - DAY TWO
Location: Paul Ricard HTTT, Le Castellet, France
Drivers: Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett
Weather: Dry with some sunny spells
Track temperature – high of 24.0 degrees Celsius
Air temperature – high of 22.9 degrees Celsius
Laps run: 240
Kilometres covered: Pedro de la Rosa – MP4-21 –
approx. 645km
Gary Paffett – MP4-20 – approx. 270km
Best lap time of the day: Heikki Kovalainen, Renault, 1m04.466
Duration of test: Four days (21st – 24th March)
With improved weather conditions from yesterday's session,
Team McLaren Mercedes completed a full day of testing at the
Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track today, with both Pedro de
la Rosa and Gary Paffett in action at the French circuit.
The track will be in the 3E SC configuration for the remainder
of the week, which is 3.8km in length.
Pedro continued his programme with the MP4-21. After completing
the shakedown of the team's latest chassis yesterday, the
Spaniard's work focused on putting more mileage on the car,
which was running with some development components which are
scheduled to make their race debut in Melbourne. Pedro's day
was formed of a series of short-medium length runs, as he
completed Michelin tyre programmes in preparation for the
Imola race.
Covering 645km over the course of 169 laps, Pedro set the
second fastest time of the day, with a 1m04.866.
Gary began his Michelin development programme today, having
had to remain in the garage yesterday due to the wet weather
conditions. Gary was focusing on the selection process for
the forthcoming Australian and San Marino Grands Prix. He
put in over 270km during the eight hour session, and ended
the day in fourth position on the timesheets with a 1m05.874.
Pedro and Gary will both be present for day three of the
four day test tomorrow at Paul Ricard.
Unofficial times*:
Pos Driver Constructor Time Laps
1 Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1m04.466 161
2 Pedro de la Rosa Team McLaren Mercedes 1m04.866 169
3 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1m04.970 144
4 Gary Paffett Team McLaren Mercedes – V10 1m05.874
71
5 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1m06.311 79
6 Ricardo Zonta Toyota 1m07.060 40
*no official times available
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