02/02/2007
NEWS STORY
Honda continued the development of its RA107 car in a four-day test at the Valencia circuit in Spain this week.
Race drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button each conducted two days of running in the new RA107 with test driver James Rossiter completing two days in the RA106 car as it comes towards the end of its testing schedule.
Following a successful first test in Barcelona last week, the RA107 programme focused on the evaluation of different set-up options and the new controls software whilst continuing to put further mileage on the new chassis. The inclement weather experienced in the first two days of the test also allowed the team to run the RA107 on the Bridgestone Potenza wet tyres for the first time.
The Honda Racing F1 Team will continue its testing programme in Jerez from Tuesday 6 to Thursday 8 February.
Rubens Barrichello: "We made a step forward this week in our understanding of the car, despite the poor weather which limited the amount of mileage covered on my two days of running. We focused on electronic controls work and set-up developments, along with some reliability running, before further new parts become available for the next tests. It is early days yet but I am happy with our current position."
Jenson Button: "The car has run reliably over the four days this week which has enabled us to cover some further valuable mileage. We still have some work to do in tuning the set-up of the car to the tyres and we will continue that in Jerez next week."
Jacky Eeckelaert - Engineering Director: "After the first running of the new RA107 in Barcelona where we confirmed that all of the car systems were working as expected, our programme in Valencia this week focused on evaluating different set-up parameters, along with the running of our new controls software. Due to the variable weather conditions on the first days of the test, our planned programme was a little disrupted so we took the opportunity of an additional day on Friday to maximise our track time. Overall we are pleased with how the car has reacted to the set-up evaluations and look forward to continuing the work next week."