Bahrain Test - Day 1
Location: Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain
Drivers: Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli
Track length: 5.412km
HALF-TIME SUBSTITUTE
Panasonic Toyota Racing returned to action at the Bahrain
International Circuit today for the first day of the final
multi-team test before the 2007 season starts in Australia.
Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli were at the wheel as the
team tried out aerodynamic updates and worked on set-up after
the endurance runs of last week. Both drivers had a mixed
morning, with Jarno’s car needing repairs for a minor
clutch issue while Ralf spun. Unfortunately, Ralf slightly
hurt his back when his car bounced over the kerb and, after
a massage, the decision was taken to allow him to rest in
order to ensure he is fully fit for tomorrow. Franck Montagny
stepped in at short notice and he took over Ralf’s car
for the afternoon session. Both Jarno and Franck worked on
set-up in the afternoon and brought back useful information
which will help the team get the best out of the TF107. Ralf
is expected to return alongside Jarno tomorrow for day two.
Ralf Schumacher - Chassis TF107/01
Best Lap Time: 1min 34.030s
Position: 16th
Total laps: 36
Total distance: 194.8kms
“The morning was going okay until the car spun and
bounced over the kerbs. Sadly, I hurt my back a bit and had
to stop driving for the day. It’s not bad but I will
rest my back now and I expect to resume tomorrow.”
Jarno Trulli - Chassis TF107/03
Best Lap Time: 1min 33.150s
Position: 9th
Total laps: 64
Total distance: 346.3kms
“I had an issue in the morning which cost me some time
but in the afternoon we did some runs and worked on car set-up
and tyres. We got some more experience of the car in different
set-ups and just in general which is positive. It was hard
at times to make a good comparison of the set-ups because
of the wind but it was not such a bad day.”
Franck Montagny - Chassis TF107/01
Best Lap Time: 1min 32.999s
Position: 8th
Total laps: 37
Total distance: 200.2kms
“It
the car this afternoon because I was not planned to be running
but it was good. I prefer to be running with the car and trying
to get some good results than doing some sports elsewhere.
It was a positive afternoon. We did a couple of tests with
different tyres and we evaluated the aero package. We could
have gone a bit faster but I was not ready to do a qualifying
run. That’s not really important, the main thing is
we finished the work they started to do with Ralf. We are
improving a little bit, day by day, step by step.”
Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager
“Obviously, today’s programme was disrupted by
Ralf’s problem in the morning. He is okay but we decided
it was best to rest his back this afternoon so he can make
the most of the final two days testing here. Luckily we had
Franck available to replace him so we did not lose much time
with our programme. Jarno had a couple of minor issues in
the morning relating to the gearbox and he also lost time
due to the red flags but that was the same for everybody.
We are expecting Ralf back in the car tomorrow when we will
resume our programme of set-up work.”
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