Lucky Strike BAR Honda were in Jerez this week to continue the programme of intensive testing planned before the end of the year. Race driver Takuma Sato in the '05 Concept car and test driver Enrique Bernoldi in the 2005 specification 006 chassis were in attendance for the duration of the three day test. Despite the unpredictable wet weather, the team had a reasonably successful test and will remain in Jerez for a further three-day test next week.
Takuma spent the first day of the test (Wednesday) on a wet tyre evaluation, moving onto an engine and gearbox development programme in the afternoon, completing a total of 70 laps. Enrique ran through an aerodynamic programme in the morning and worked on electronic settings in the afternoon to complete a total of 49 laps for the day.
The unpredictable weather conditions continued on Thursday as Enrique began the morning running through a wet tyre evaluation. He completed 11 laps before he aquaplaned in the wet conditions and had a spin into the gravel which ended his day's running. Takuma's first laps were spent running through a front suspension evaluation, followed by a short engine programme.
Both Takuma and Enrique spent the morning of the final day of the test (Friday) running through wet tyre evaluations. Takuma ran through a suspension evaluation and completed only 32 laps due to the track conditions, taking his final lap tally to 66 for the day. After waiting for the circuit to dry-out for most of the afternoon, Enrique commenced a shallow wet test. However, an end of day circuit red flag prevented him from completing his programme and he finished on a total of 37 laps for the day.
Takuma Sato: "Time has run so fast since the end of the season in Brazil. It is nice to be back to business and back in the car for winter testing. We had some work to do on next year's regulations so we are spending time evaluating the tyres, aero and engine. The weather has not been great in Jerez and we have not been able to complete a dry lap in the last three days. However, the Concept car has now done a lot of mileage and I really hope that we will be able to have a dry test next week."
Enrique Bernoldi: "It's been a very mixed test for us this week. I had a productive day's running on Wednesday going through an aerodynamic evaluation and engine programme. We got some good results and I was pleased with my lap times. On Thursday I was out on intermediates doing a tyre evaluation when I aquaplaned at the end of the straight and had an incident which unfortunately meant that we could do no further running. So this morning I spent some time getting a good balance back in the car and we have been able to do some valuable wet tyre testing. Overall it has been a little frustrating to have such limited running, so I'm hopeful that the weather will improve for next week's test and we can get some more mileage on our 2005 development parts."
Andrew Alsworth, Test Team Manager: "It's been a difficult three days in Jerez this week. The ever-changing weather has caused constant disruption to our programme, however we have been able to get some useful data by running through a series of Michelin wet tyre evaluations. We are now hoping for much better conditions for next week's five-day test programme."
Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development: "It's been a slightly frustrating few days because of the unusually wet weather for Jerez, but we have got some more miles under our belt and we just hope that the weather will be back to normal next week!"
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