Toyota begins final pre-season test (Updated)

07/03/2007
NEWS STORY

Toyota completed its penultimate day of testing before the start of the 2007 season at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez today.

Race drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli took the wheel for the private test in Spain and both drivers helped the team put the finishing touches to the TF107 prior to the Australian Grand Prix.

Today's programme focused on finalising the team's package for the opening race of the season, with a Melbourne-specification aerodynamic update on the car for the first time. Some rain in the morning meant track temperatures were quite low to start the day, around 18°C, but the track dried during the morning and in the afternoon conditions improved with track temperatures hitting 22°C. Ralf and Jarno were able to put plenty of laps on the car, gathering important information which will help the team prepare for the Melbourne race, as well as practicing launches. The driving line-up will remain the same tomorrow, for the final day of pre-season testing.

"Today went quite well and we did a lot of useful work," said Schumacher. "The first race of the season is very close now so we tried a few different set-ups which went well. We are making progress and it was good to be able to do a lot of laps today without any problems with the car. We now have only one day of testing left before the season starts so we need to make the most of the opportunity and really push to be ready for Melbourne."

"We did a lot of laps today," added Trulli, "more than two race distances, so I am pleased with how things have gone. After our tests in Bahrain it is good to put some more miles on the car and try out a few set-up things. We had some work to do after Bahrain and we have made a good start today. I am optimistic we will continue to make progress tomorrow on our final day."

"We had quite a successful day today," said Chief Engineer Dieter Gass, "even though we had a slow start because of the wet track in the morning. Still we got a lot of items tested in our final preparation for the first race of the season, running the complete race one aero package for the very first time today. Jarno had a trouble-free day and ran through the complete programme working on finalising the set-up preparation for Melbourne. Ralf spun twice and lost a little bit of time. Apart from that he had no major issues as well and, like Jarno, we worked on car set-up."

Today's Times - All Times Unofficial

Name Team T Laps Time Gap
Trulli Toyota B 112 1:19.710 124.265 mph
R Schumacher Toyota B 81 1:20.389 0.679

Best Times To Date

Date Driver Team T Time Gap
19-Jan Kovalainen Renault B 1:19.183 125.092 mph
18-Jan Davidson Super Aguri B 1:19.628 0.445
07-Feb Massa Ferrari B 1:19.647 0.464
07-Mar Trulli Toyota B 1:19.710 0.527
18-Jan Fisichella Renault B 1:19.754 0.571
07-Feb Kubica BMW B 1:19.794 0.611
07-Feb Hamilton McLaren B 1:19.810 0.627
06-Feb de la Rosa McLaren B 1:19.998 0.815
07-Feb Raikkonen Ferrari B 1:20.007 0.824
06-Feb Wurz WilliamsF1 B 1:20.018 0.835
07-Feb Alonso McLaren B 1:20.040 0.857
18-Jan Rosberg WilliamsF1 B 1:20.049 0.866
07-Feb Piquet Renault B 1:20.070 0.887
06-Feb R Schumacher Toyota B 1:20.254 1.071
06-Feb Button Honda B 1:20.362 1.179
17-Jan Nakajima WilliamsF1 B 1:20.375 1.192
06-Feb Montagny Toyota B 1:20.409 1.226
07-Feb Webber Red Bull B 1:20.629 1.446
07-Feb Heidfeld BMW B 1:20.647 1.464
06-Feb Badoer Ferrari B 1:20.662 1.479
19-Jan Sato Super Aguri B 1:20.688 1.505
06-Feb Vettel BMW B 1:20.690 1.507
07-Feb Coulthard Red Bull B 1:20.702 1.519
06-Feb Zonta Renault B 1:21.393 2.210
06-Feb Klien Honda B 1:22.078 2.895
07-Feb Andretti Honda B 1:22.147 2.964
08-Feb Glock BMW B 1:30.211 11.028
08-Feb Barrichello Honda B 1:30.687 11.504

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Published: 07/03/2007
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