Formula 1 News

Barcelona testing Day 3 – April 16th, 2008: Toyota report 

Jarno Trulli took over driving duties for Panasonic Toyota Racing for Day 3 of this week’s test at Barcelona, in Spain. With rain forecast for tomorrow, Toyota amended its programme to make the most of the dry track. Jarno spent most of the day working on the TF108′s new aerodynamic parts along with set-up for next week’s Spanish Grand Prix. He also carried out work on dampers and suspension, interrupted only by a gearbox control issue before lunch.

Jarno will return tomorrow for the last day.

Jarno Trulli: “We started very well this morning and we were producing some very good lap times. Then unfortunately we had a problem late in the morning and we had to stop for a while, so that made it a harder day for us. When we went back out after lunch the track was very windy and dusty so it was hard to make real comparisons with the data. Still, I’m not concerned because our car set-up is good. By the time we get here next week for the race the track conditions will be completely different.”

Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager: “That was a more difficult day of testing for us. We had hoped to fit in a full programme because we are expecting rain at the circuit tomorrow. In the end we lost some running time around lunch after we suffered a gearbox control issue. Then we hit a couple of red lights on new tyre runs in the afternoon. Still, we made the best of the mileage that we were able to get through. Jarno looked at different set-ups for the grand prix – even if the wind was gusting and track conditions are likely to change by then. He also did some work on aerodynamics, dampers and suspension so we collected some helpful data.”

source: Toyota