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Toyota duo sets Paul Ricard pace

NEWS STORY
12/05/2005

Toyota testers, Olivier Panis and Ricardo Zonta, dominated the timesheets on the second day of testing at Paul Ricard.

The Frenchman was the quicker of the two, outpacing his Brazilian teammate by 0.238s.

Olivier, a winner at Monaco in 1996, concentrated on the TF105's suspension ahead of next weekend's race, while Ricardo focussed on tyre testing. Unfortunately the abrasive nature of the Paul Ricard track surface caused excessive wear to the tyres the team had hoped to take to Monaco.

Third quickest, 0.253s off the pace, was Barcelona winner Kimi Raikkonen, who spent the day evaluating tyres. The Finn was joined by Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, however, both drivers lost vital track time as a result of engine problems, Kimi, once again, running the latest spec Mercedes V10.

The busiest man today was Renault's Heikki Kovalainen, who completed 196 laps, equivalent to three times the Monaco race distance. Heikki was joined by Franck Montagny.

"We had another very strong day's running with both drivers," said Christian Silk, "the car was working well, and both drivers were pleased with the performance.

"We have effectively completed the first of our test programmes for this week now, and tomorrow we will concentrate on Canada - with lower downforce levels and a different circuit layout to simulate the long straights and heavy braking. We will have a busy day testing tyres, brake cooling and set-up for the race.

"We have had very good reliability so far this week, and hope to see this continue in order to complete an intensive final day of running."

Red Bull had David Coulthard and Tonio Liuzzi in action, the Scot, having completed 155 laps, being the second busiest man on track.

Jacques Villeneuve was in action for Sauber, the Canadian enjoying the rare luxury of two days of testing.

"It was quite a productive day today and we were able to complete the programme," said Giampaolo Dall'Ara. "Although we missed the scheduled long-run for the Michelin tyre evaluation our decision for Monaco is quite clear now. We also worked on the car set-up and validated front wing and suspension specifications for the next race.

"Tomorrow we will run on a different track layout and focus on a medium downforce as well as Michelin tyre programme in preparation for the Canadian Grand Prix."

BAR, which was due to test today, opted to sit out the session having heard that there was a strong chance of rain. Rather than 'waste' one of its test days the Brackley team chose to cancel the planned programme and will return to work on Friday, when Jenson button and Takuma Sato will be on duty.

On Friday, the circuit will be used in a different configuration, simulating Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in order to begin preparations for next month's Canadian GP.

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