25/08/2006
NEWS STORY
The second Grand Prix of Turkey got off to a sweltering start today with track temperatures hitting 50 degrees Celsius in this afternoon's second practice session. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro set the pace for the Bridgestone runners with title challenger, Michael Schumacher, and his teammate Felipe Massa respectively finishing the first and second sessions with the second fastest times. Panasonic Toyota Racing's Ralf Schumacher was also up with the front runners in the second session while MF1 Racing's Giorgio Mondini was doing his best to impress as he returned to Friday third driver duties for the first time since Indianapolis. Meanwhile, Bridgestone's remaining runners also concentrated on setting up their cars and evaluating their tyres ahead of this weekend's 58-lap race. The 5.338km circuit, which runs anti-clockwise, poses a challenge for all the competitors this weekend and tyre choices, which have to be made ahead of Saturday's qualifying session, will be key.
Hisao Suganuma, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager: "This is a challenging circuit with a combination of characteristics, such as the smooth track surface and tough corners, which make it quite demanding on the tyres. Naturally the track was very dusty this morning, which resulted in quite a high level of graining on the front right tyres, but the third drivers still managed to complete some long run evaluations in that session. As a result, we have plenty of information about how the different tyre specifications have been performing today. By the end of the second session all the teams had tried both their two specifications and although we still observed graining, we are confident the Bridgestone teams will have competitive tyres this weekend. Our job now is to see how much the track develops before Sunday's race and to assess today's tyres for wear, blistering and construction durability and to then give our teams our advice on which specifications will be most suitable for this weekend."
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