Sepang Test – Day 3
Thursday 29 March 2007
Location: Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
Driver: Ralf Schumacher
Track length: 5.543km
FOUR-DAY WEEK
Panasonic Toyota Racing started what should have been the
final day of testing at Sepang under rain clouds this morning.
Heavy rain just before the session started left a lot of standing
water on the track and Ralf Schumacher did his first laps
on extreme wet Bridgestone tyres before the Malaysian heat
began to dry the track and bring wet and then dry tyres on
to the car. Ralf continued the programme of the previous two
days, improving the set-up of the TF107 in hot conditions
on the Sepang circuit. Despite the heavy rain in the morning,
the team was able to switch Ralf to dry tyres around 90 minutes
into the session and he enjoyed a trouble-free run. However,
the rain returned with just over an hour remaining and a torrential
thunderstorm effectively washed out the remainder of the day.
The time lost due to rain gave the team the chance to extend
the test by a day and Franck Montagny will take over from
Ralf for an unexpected extra session.
Ralf Schumacher - Chassis TF107/03
Best Lap Time: 1min 36.700s
Position: 3rd
Total laps: 69
Total distance: 382.4km
“This morning was very wet so there was very little
grip on the circuit but as we have seen in previous years,
the hot temperatures here dry the track quickly so our programme
was not delayed too much. Once again we looked at set-ups
for the race here, trying to realise more of the car’s
potential. Today was another day without mechanical problems
which is very positive and shows we have made improvements
since the start of winter testing. Unfortunately we could
not complete everything we wanted to do due to the rain in
the afternoon but that is the same for all the teams and now
we will have an extra day of testing to make up for it.”
Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager
“There was a lot of rain this morning which made the
track quite when the session began. However, the hot temperatures
here mean the track dries out very quickly so after some running
on wet tyres we were able to resume our programme on dries
well before lunchtime. Today was another day of set-up work
for Ralf and the positive thing again is we did not have any
reliability trouble. The wet track this morning and the rain
in the afternoon allows the team to apply for an extension
of the test and we will now have an extra day of running tomorrow.”
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