German Grand Prix – Free Practice Round-Up
HEIM SWEET HEIM
Preparations for the 54th German Grand Prix began today for
Panasonic Toyota Racing at a humid Hockenheimring. Race drivers
Jarno Trulli, who signed on today to continue driving for
the team in the coming seasons, and Ralf Schumacher made a
solid start during the two practice sessions. Their programmes
consisted of working on tyre comparisons and final set-up
preparations. The team finished the day, having put in 17
and 18 laps and ending up with the 12th and 13th fastest times
respectively. Jarno will be using the latest specification
RVX-06 Toyota engine this weekend. Ralf received the upgraded
engine package in France but Jarno was on the second race
of his cycle started at Indianapolis. The German Grand Prix
has always been a race to expect the unexpected, especially
with regards to weather. One thing for certain, is that Panasonic
Toyota Racing will be focused on maintaining the progress
made in the last few races and improving the team's current
position in the championship.
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
First Session Classification: 22nd, 4 laps completed
No lap time
Second Session Classification: 12th, 13 laps completed
Lap time: 1m17.844s (+1.619s)
"Today was a relatively good day for me. Especially
now that I have signed my contract with the team, I am very
happy that we can look forward and concentrate on developing
our progress even further. The practice sessions today went
as normal, even though it threatened to rain during the second
session. We have already worked on the tyres for this race
at the last test to get a feeling how they would perform at
this track. But we should encounter warmer temperatures tomorrow
and this will give us a better insight as to how well we can
perform here over the weekend."
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/07B)
First Session Classification: 21st, 4 laps completed
No lap time
Second Session Classification: 13th, 14 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m17.895s (+1.670s)
"It's always nice to come to Hockenheim because I enjoy
the atmosphere and feel at home. Today was a pretty successful
day of work on tyres and set-up for the weekend. In the few
laps that I went out for, everything was looking good. We
made it through both practice sessions without problems, even
though we were working under time pressure due to the rain.
We collected all the data we needed, so we will have to see
what tyre choice will be made. Our progress has been improving
and I believe our package still has the potential to compete
at the front of the pack on Sunday. "
Dieter Gass - Chief Engineer Race and Test
"The weather turned out to be a challenge today especially
during the second session. We could not go out as much as
we wanted to work on the tyres, but are looking to take advantage
of the third practice session tomorrow to collect some more
data for comparison. Both cars have a small aerodynamic update
and Jarno will be driving with the latest specification engine.
Tyres will play a very important role on the performance here,
but we will have to look at the data before making the final
tyre choice. Tomorrow will tell us more about what we can
expect, but I believe that we can anticipate similar results
as we had in Magny Cours."
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