Paul Ricard Test – Day 3
Thursday 17 May 2007
Location: Circuit Paul Ricard, France
Driver: Franck Montagny
Track length: 5.255kms
CANADA CALLING
Franck Montagny took over from Ralf Schumacher at Paul Ricard
today as the emphasis switched from Monaco testing to the
upcoming North American races. The first of these is Montreal
on June 10, a track which could not be more different from
Monaco’s slow corners and high downforce set-ups. The
long straights, chicanes and hairpins of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
demand lower downforce but good braking stability as well
as the ability to ride the kerbs well and make quick directional
changes. To simulate that, the teams are now using a different
layout over a longer 5.255km lap. Franck focused on set-up
for Montreal, as well as work on the brakes, but occasional
showers interrupted proceedings, as did a late incident at
the chicane. With the chequered flag approaching, he slightly
damaged the car on a kerb, stopping on the circuit and bringing
out the red flags. Franck will be behind the wheel again tomorrow
for the fourth and final day of testing at Paul Ricard.
Franck Montagny - Chassis TF107-03
Best Lap Time: 1min 29.205s
Position: 6th
Total laps: 67
Total distance: 352.085kms
“Today was quite okay. We didn’t have a lot of
mileage to do and so we tried to optimise the test but it
was not easy with the wind conditions and the odd shower of
rain. We collected some decent information though, working
on Montreal set-up and also continuing the step-by-step progress
we have made since the start of the year. At the end of the
day I had a slight problem and I clipped the outside kerb
and stopped. Despite that, I think we made good progress overall.”
Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager
“Today’s track layout was very different from
the one we used here for the first two days. We concentrated
on trying to find a good basic balance for the heavy braking
and quick directional changes we will need in Montreal. Once
we had done that we did some brake work in the afternoon.
We had a trouble-free day until Franck just clipped the chicane
15 minutes before the end of the day, but there was no significant
damage.”
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