Paul Ricard Test: Round-Up
Location: Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France
Drivers: Olivier Panis, Ricardo Zonta
Track Length: 3.818km
With good weather and productive results on the books, Panasonic
Toyota Racing wrapped up its test programme at the Circuit
Paul Ricard. The test agenda this last week included aerodynamic
scans, tyre construction and set-up testing. With a three-week
gap before the next race at Imola, the team will take advantage
of the time by journeying to Barcelona next week to collect
further results before heading into the European season.
Drivers:
Ricardo Zonta
Best lap: 1m04.157s, total laps: 431
Olivier Panis
Best lap: 1m05.524s, total laps: 216
GOING THE EXTRA MILE
Ricardo Zonta put in a lot of mileage over the last three
days, adding up to over 1,646km!
Ricardo Zonta - Chassis TF106/01
Best Lap Time: 1m04.157s
Total laps: 156
Total Distance: 595.608km
"We tried many different tyre specifications during
the long runs in the afternoon, as well as working on different
aerodynamic set-ups. We have made some improvement, which
I hope proves well at Imola, because this is a circuit that
is hard for graining, especially when the track is still dirty.
Paul Ricard has a similar track surface and the tyre choice
we've made this week seems to do well. Now we just need to
keep concentrated and keep pushing."
CLIPPED WING
Olivier Panis had a productive test, although having suffered
a broken wing.
Olivier Panis - Chassis TF106/02
Best Lap Time: 1m06.741s
Total laps: 60
Total Distance: 229.08km
"Overall, it was a positive week; we were working quite
hard with the set-up to gain confidence with the car. Today,
we had planned to do some long runs in the afternoon to achieve
further results for the tyre choice at Imola, but my front
wing broke from hitting the kerbs, which is unfortunate but
is something that can happen. We are positive that we have
made the right choice of tyres, yet, it is difficult to definitely
say how we are coming along for the next race. But for sure
Ricardo and I have found some encouraging things this week
and we hope to score some further points at the coming races."
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
General Manager Car Design and Development, Pascal
Vasselon:
"We had very different fortunes with the two cars; Olivier
stopped earlier than expected with a small problem due to
a shock on the front wing in the chicane. With Ricardo we
have completed an extensive tyre test, going through very
different tyre specifications, which made the choice for Imola
easy. So we have now fully completed our preparations for
the race at Imola. Looking forward it is hard to predict where
we stand, but I can say that our progress here compared to
the last test is really positive."
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