16/08/2002

Hungarian Grand Prix - Free Practice

On only its second visit to the Hungaroring Panasonic Toyota Racing today began preparations for this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. Both Mika Salo and Allan McNish completed their work on car set-up for the race and tyre comparison although dirty and slippery track conditions affected progress.

Mika Salo - Car No. 24

Position:	15th 1m18.890s 34 laps completed
Chassis:	TF102/07

"We improved the car during the two sessions but we still have a little bit of work to do on car balance. It is not too bad at the moment and I am pretty happy for the race set-up. This circuit uses every part of the car so you need a good balance for the tyres also good traction control for exit of the corners basically every part needs to work together in order to be good around the Hungaroring."

Allan McNish - Car No. 25

Position:	18th 1m19.171s 37 laps completed
Chassis:	TF102/08

"We struggled to find a good balance on the car it is oversteering very aggressively at the moment. We managed to complete our programme today and we have a bit of work to do tonight to find some consistency on the car. Apart from a small electronics problem in the afternoon session we had no mechanical difficulties."

Keizo Takahashi - Technical Co-Ordinator
"Both Mika and Allan completed their programmes in today's practice to find a good car set-up for the race. The balance of the car has improved but track conditions have not been so helpful. I think we still have much room for improvement and hopefully the track conditions will be better tomorrow. It is very important to obtain a good position in qualifying in Hungary because overtaking is almost impossible."

Weather:	Overcast and drizzly start brightening throughout the day
Temperatures:	Track: Min 23 Max 30 Average Humidity: 32%
T-car:	TF102/06 set up for Mika Salo