SPARKLING SPA

 

The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps is always a special occasion for motorsport fans – and there are plenty of those at Panasonic Toyota Racing.

As arguably the best track in the world, Spa is legendary in Formula 1 circles both for its stunning lay-out and its rapidly changing weather.

It is rare for a race weekend at Spa to pass without rain at some stage and that proved to be the case again with a downpour on Friday, although this time there were far fewer complaints about the changeable weather.

After the extreme heat of Valencia, where the garage was a sweaty, uncomfortable place to work, many team members were actually looking forward to a cooler weekend in Spa.

But, as one team member pointed out, even if the weather itself changed, people’s behaviour didn’t. In Valencia team members were staying under cover to stay out of the oppressive sun while on Friday morning in Spa they were looking for shelter from the traditional Ardennes rain!

EUROPEAN TOUR

The Belgian Grand Prix is the home race for Toyota Motor Europe, which has its headquarters in Brussels, so Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock gave some of their time to make it a special weekend for some of the team’s biggest supporters.

It all started on Thursday morning when Jarno and Timo, along with third driver Kamui Kobayashi and team President John Howett, paid a visit to Toyota Motor Europe headquarters in Brussels to meet with employees and share their views on the season so far.

After catching up with staff there, and signing plenty of autographs, the drivers headed immediately to Spa-Francorchamps where in the evening they joined a dinner with local journalists invited by Toyota Motor Europe.

That gave Jarno another chance to practice his French and gave the journalists an insight into the team’s preparations for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Toyota Motor Europe also had several hundred guests visiting a dedicated VIP suite above the GP2 pits in a building which in previous years housed the world’s Formula 1 media, so Jarno and Timo found time in their weekend schedule to pay a visit.

RACING FROM RACE TO RACE

 

Back-to-back Grands Prix present a logistical challenge at the best of times, with the cars, motorhomes and trucks needing to be packed up and rushed to the next venue in a race against the clock.

That rush was apparent on Sunday evening when the motorhome and garage in Valencia were dismantled in double-quick time ahead of the 1,600km trip from Spain across France and into Belgium.

Traditionally, the Belgian Grand Prix has been a double-header with the Italian Grand Prix, which requires a trip of around 800kms so the change of schedule this year not only doubled the distance, it also offered significantly less time for pack-down and build-up.

But, despite a 22-hour drive, the truckies and motorhome staff worked miracles to ensure everything was ship-shape when the rest of the team arrived at Spa on Wednesday and Thursday.

The challenge of preparing a motorhome in such a short time was clear when looking around the paddock on Thursday morning. While Toyota team members were enjoying breakfast in a completed motorhome, several other teams were still building theirs!