ETIHAD ALDAR SPYKER FORMULA ONE TEAM TEST REPORT SPA T28
- Day One
The Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team has completed a
trouble-free first day of its three-day test at the Spa-Francorchamps
circuit, home to the forthcoming Belgian Grand Prix. Following
on from his runs in the car at the Silverstone test three
weeks ago, Giedo van der Garde was on driving duty for the
team, putting in more than 350km over the course of the day.
The young Dutchman completed a programme that included aero
development and general set-up work and finished the day just
over three seconds slower than Lewis Hamilton over the 6.976km
lap.
Adrian Sutil will take over from Giedo for the second day
of the test tomorrow.
Team quotes
Dominic Harlow, chief race and test engineer
'We were pleasantly surprised by the weather in Spa today
for our first visit in nearly two years, and have been able
to complete a very satisfactory programme with Giedo van der
Garde. The build of the car here includes many development
components in all the major systems of the car that need mileage
and data collection before they can race. In addition the
team carried out some aerodynamic and brake system tests.
The circuit must be congratulated on the new facilities that
have been built over the winter which have improved working
conditions for the teams by a good step.'
Giedo van der Garde
'It was a good day today. We worked steadily through the programme
and I was very pleased with the performance today. It's a
long lap, nearly 7km, so it's good to be so close to the fastest
cars. We worked on downforce levels and the set-up and while
it was a shame that we couldn't try out the softer tyre option
available as I think we could maybe have gone even quicker,
I think we got a good baseline for the rest of the test.'
Testing data
Driver: Giedo van der Garde
Track: Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Best lap time: 1min 49.712
Laps completed: 53
Kilometres completed: 369km
Air temperature: High of 19ºC
Track temperature: High of 35ºC
Weather: Dry and cloudy with sunny intervals
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