Location: Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
Driver: Franck Montagny
Track length: 5.543km
WORKING LATE
Panasonic Toyota Racing concluded its test at Sepang in Malaysia
today, a day later than originally intended. Rain yesterday
gave the team the opportunity to extend the test and Franck
Montagny was drafted in for an extra day of driving. Franck’s
task was again to finetune the TF107 in advance of the Malaysian
Grand Prix and, after yesterday’s rain, conditions in
the morning were perfect. Franck needed a precautionary engine
change but rapid work from the mechanics to complete the work
saw him back on track just over an hour later and several
set-ups were tried to give the team more vital information
as the race weekend at Sepang draws near. Franck got through
the afternoon session with no technical problems but the weather
took a turn for the worse and a sudden downpour changed the
programme slightly. Next up for the team is the Malaysian
Grand Prix, with all equipment and several team members staying
on at Sepang for next weekend’s event.
Franck Montagny - Chassis TF107/03
Best Lap Time: 1min 37.206s
Position: 5th
Total laps: 79
Total distance: 437.9km
“It was good to be back in the car because this is
a new circuit for me – Tuesday was my first time driving
here. It has been quite hot and the first day was a little
bit difficult but today was perfect so I am happy. It rained
quite a bit in the afternoon so we could do some laps in the
rain and that gave us a good idea of when we should change
to dry tyres. That is important for the race here because
quite often you get some drops of rain and now we know the
window in which we have to change tyres. We focused on the
set-up, continuing the work we started on Tuesday. Some more
work was done by Ralf on Wednesday and Thursday and we just
followed on. I think it went quite well, we just have to carry
on in this way when the race weekend starts. Everybody worked
well and I am quite optimistic for the team’s chances
for this race.”
Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager
“We had quite a positive conclusion to this test, despite
Franck’s engine change this morning. The guys did a
good job to have the car ready again so quickly, which minimised
the time we lost. We completed a lot of laps again today,
more than a race distance, so we are pleased with that. This
week has been useful and we have made progress on the car.
The main target was to look at set-ups for the Malaysian Grand
Prix and we have tried several different combinations, as
well as looking at the two compounds of Bridgestone tyres,
so that information should help the team when it comes to
the race weekend.”
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