After making headway at the Malaysian Grand Prix last week, Panasonic Toyota Racing returns to testing at the Circuit Paul Ricard with a long list of test items to go through in preparation for the upcoming race in Australia. The team is focussing on the tyre programme, especially running through different set-ups and tyre temperatures to gain data on the overall behaviour of the car with the tyres. Ralf Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta who were on the track testing today, were hampered in the morning by cool weather, however once temperatures improved, both were able do some running and evaluations. Jarno Trulli and Ricardo Zonta are planned to drive tomorrow.

RISE AND SHINE

Ricardo Zonta - Chassis TF106/02
Best lap time: 1m06.311s
Total laps: 79
Total distance: 301.622km

"We had a slow start in morning and had to therefore wait for warmer temperatures. At lunchtime, we really began working on our tyre programme, achieving everything we had planned. I was driving the old car trying different compounds, different temperature settings on the tyres, and balance set-ups. We will continue to work on some different items and tomorrow should be better as the temperatures are supposed to rise."

IT'S NOT SO EASY AS IT SEEMS
Ralf Schumacher had a difficult day driving due to electronic problems.

Ralf Schumacher - Chassis TF106/01
Best lap time: 1m07.060s
Total laps: 40
Total distance: 152.72km

"In general it was very cold, so we were suffering with the warm-up of the tyre temperatures. In the afternoon, I put in some running but had some electronic issues and therefore stopped the car to prevent any further problems. Although the day does not seem as successful, the team will carry on with Jarno and Ricardo tomorrow and I am sure that we will gain some insight for the next race."

CHANGE OF PLANS
While Ralf finished up his testing for this week and now heads to Australia, Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager comments on the day's testing looks forward to further results.

"We did some construction tests today to see that we get a good temperature in the tyres with different set-ups on the car. We have found some interesting results and we will continue to work on this for the next two days. We have decided to change the driver line-up for tomorrow, exchanging Ralf with Jarno, as we are anticipating bad weather on Friday and this will give Jarno an equal opportunity to put in some good running."