Location: Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain
Drivers: Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli
Track length: 5.411km
DESERT DRAT
Panasonic Toyota Racing escaped the European winter for its
double-header test at the Bahrain International Circuit, which
began in the Gulf state today. The final multi-team test before
the start of the season kicked off under clear skies and in
warm sunshine with race drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno
Trulli behind the wheel. The hot weather gave the team a chance
to try out the new Bridgestone tyres for the first time in
the kind of conditions expected at many races this year. The
team also had new aerodynamic parts on the car for evaluation.
Trulli’s day barely started before a gearbox control
issue forced him back into the garage for lengthy repairs
while Schumacher took advantage of the near-perfect conditions
to register some early laps. Unfortunately Schumacher was
also halted as lunchtime approached when a clutch needed repairing,
but when the green flags waved to start the afternoon session,
both drivers were back on track. Minor repairs caused further
delays and the team is now looking forward to a more positive
second day.
Ralf Schumacher - Chassis TF107/01
Best Lap Time: 1min 35.265s
Position: 15th
Total laps: 35
Total distance: 189.3kms
“Today was a difficult day for me because we had some
small issues on the car so we were not able to do all the
work we planned to do. There are still some things to sort
out but there are enough days left of this test here in Bahrain.
It’s still too early to say how competitive anyone is
so I am not sure how any of the teams rank. We have had some
very good tests but we still have some issues to work at so
we will continue to push hard.”
Jarno Trulli - Chassis TF107/03
Best Lap Time: 1min 32.787s
Position: 8th
Total laps: 33
Total distance: 178.5kms
“It was not a good day unfortunately. We had a few
issues and the car was in the garage quite a lot. We did not
do as many miles as we had hope we can do more miles tomorrow
so we can make progress.”
Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test
“This was definitely not the first day we imagined
here. We faced quite a few issues during the day which prevented
us running through our programme smoothly. On Ralf’s
car after trouble with the clutch we had a problem with the
differential control which investigated throughout the afternoon.
With Jarno’s car we had a gearbox control issue in the
morning which cost us a lot of time. Overall unfortunately
we couldn’t do a lot of work on the car. We will have
to continue with our programme and we are still optimistic
as there are nearly two weeks of testing left here in Bahrain.”
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