ETIHAD ALDAR SPYKER FORMULA ONE TEAM TEST REPORT PAUL RICARD
T20 - Day three
17 May 2007 - With a different circuit configuration in use
today at the Circuit de Castellet Paul Ricard, the Etihad
Aldar Spyker Formula One Team's focus switched to preparation
for the Canadian Grand Prix. Working through an aero and tyre
evaluation programme, test driver Markus Winkelhock completed
226km in the morning before race driver Christijan Albers
took over in the afternoon. The Dutchman was however only
able to put in just 16 laps before a minor mechanical problem
curtailed the day's running.
Adrian Sutil will drive take over for tomorrow's
final day of testing.
Team quotes
Dominic Harlow, chief race and test engineer
'Markus Winkelhock began today`s programme with some very
useful initial work on Montreal aero set-up. He completed
43 laps before Christijan took over the car for the afternoon.
Unfortunately we had only begun his programme when a mechanical
issue on the car resulted us having to end the session early.
The cause is fully understood and it can be corrected immediately,
but it is frustrating for Christijan and the team to lose
out on some valuable test time. Still it is problems like
this that we are here to uncover and fix as well as looking
for performance improvements, and we expect to conclude the
test tomorrow with another busy and productive day.'
Markus Winkelhock
'I was really happy to be back in the car after so long away.
The last time I drove for a long run was the end of October
last year and apart from a 50km shakedown that's been it.
I felt good immediately, but I was a little aggressive at
first but when I got used to the tyres and the track configuration,
it was a lot smoother and the lap times improved. We tried
out some different aero packages and did some long runs to
get a good baseline, but I think everything was good - it
has been good preparation for this weekend when I'll be racing
the Audi!'
Christijan Albers
'I could only do a handful of laps this afternoon on old tyres
so it was very difficult to get some information. Markus did
a lot of laps in the morning, so I was hoping to follow on
from this, but we had a problem and had to stop. It was a
real shame as it was so positive yesterday and I think we
could really have got into the 1.30s with new tyres and low
fuel, which would have made us much more competitive compared
to the others.'
Media facts
* Markus Winkelhock will be returning to racing action this
weekend when he competes in the DTM with a 2007 Audi. The
26-year-old will be deputising for Dane and Le Mans legend
Tom Kristensen, who was injured in an accident at the start
of the season
* Markus raced in the DTM in 2004 with a year-old car before
trying to break into F1
Testing data
Driver: Markus Winkelhock (am), Christijan Albers (pm)
Track: Circuit de Castellet, `Paul Ricard 1E-SC Short', France
Best lap time: Winkelhock: 1min 32.756, Albers: 1min 32.245
Laps completed: Winkelhock: 43, Albers: 16
Kilometres completed: 308km
Air temperature: High of 20ºC
Track temperature: High of 31ºC
Weather: Overcast, strong 'Mistral' wind
F8-VII testing data (since 1 January 2007)
Total km run (testing): 6,562 kilometres
Total days: 15
Christijan Albers: 2,649km in total
Adrian Sutil: 1,801km in total
Fairuz Fauzy: 978km in total
Giedo van der Garde: 534km in total
Adrian Valles: 373km in total
Markus Winkelhock: 226km in total
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