Jerez Test – Day 1
Location: Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Spain
Drivers: Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock
Track length: 4.428km
THE SEASON STARTS HERE
Panasonic Toyota Racing gave its new TF108 car an official
testing debut at Jerez in Spain today following a successful
roll-out at the same track yesterday. Jarno Trulli completed
67 laps at the wheel of the TF108 during yesterday’s
trouble-free roll-out in ideal conditions but the new car’s
first full day of testing started with rain pouring on to
a wet track. Jarno’s task was to put as many laps as
possible on the new car to test systems and begin to understand
set-up changes while his new team-mate Timo Glock drove a
modified version of the TF107, working on the new gearbox
and standard ECU, as well as making some set-up comparisons.
Soon after lunch Timo spun into the gravel at turn 8, damaging
his front wing against the tyre barriers. But quick work by
his crew saw him back in action after a short delay and he
completed his programme with no further trouble. Jarno made
good progress understanding the TF108 and, thanks to impressive
reliability from the new car, he completed 87laps. Timo takes
over at the wheel of the new car tomorrow, with Kamui Kobayashi
alongside.
Jarno Trulli - Chassis TF108/02
Best Lap Time: 1min 21.344s
Position: 8th
Total laps: 87
Total distance: 385.236km
“Everything went smoothly today. We were competitive
all day, in the wet and in the dry. We pushed our performance
forward and also gained more experience with this new car,
which is very important and we are understanding more and
more how it works. The roll-out yesterday was successful and
we were able to complete a lot of laps without any trouble.
The car seems to be running well and there are no major problems.
I was happy to do so many laps with a new car today –
it was a positive day.”
Timo Glock - Chassis TF107/06
Best Lap Time: 1min 24.351s
Position: 13th
Total laps: 58
Total distance: 256.824km
“Today has been reasonable. I did quite a few laps
in the TF107 and even though it is last year’s car we
can still get more information about the new gearbox and also
how the car behaves without traction control, especially in
the wet conditions this morning. We ran through our programme
with no reliability problems but unfortunately I had a spin
early in the afternoon when I touched the damp kerb and lost
control which was a bit frustrating. I am excited by the chance
to drive the new car tomorrow. The car has a totally new aerodynamic
concept and so far everything has gone well with Jarno driving.
Now I am really looking forward to getting the chance to drive
the TF108 myself, it should be an interesting experience.”
Pascal Vasselon, Senior General Manager Chassis
“We can be pleased with our progress so far with the
TF108. The roll-out yesterday went well and we ran through
several system checks with no significant problems. Today
we started to look more at set-up and I believe we made a
promising start but at this stage it is still too early to
be comparing lap times. The main target today was to get information
and data about the new car, how it behaves and how it reacts
to changes, and we achieved that in both wet and dry conditions.
Timo continued to drive the TF107 and he worked on refining
the new gearbox and the standard ECU. He did some set-up work
as well but the track conditions this morning did not help.
In the afternoon we sent him out in challenging track conditions
but this was a valuable learning opportunity now traction
control has been outlawed. We are happy with our progress
and looking forward to continuing the good work tomorrow.”
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