Long day with long runs - that summarizes Panasonic Toyota Racing's test day for test driver Olivier Panis, while third driver Ricardo Zonta unfortunately endured engine-related problems in the morning causing his day to fall short after going out for the first run of the day. Olivier had to take over some of the running that was planned for Ricardo and ran reliably the whole day putting in long runs to continue the team's tyre programme. Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli will arrive tomorrow and take over the tyre testing before heading to the German Grand Prix taking place next week.

Olivier Panis - Chassis TF106/10
Best Lap Time: 1m18.802s
Total laps: 127
Total distance: 562.356kms

"This was a long strenuous day for me having put in over 100 laps in these extreme temperatures. The heat does not make it any easier for you when you are sitting in the car for such a long time. Nevertheless, we managed to get through most of my and Ricardo's program. I did four long runs testing tyre compounds. The car was running like a strong truck just pushing through the programme today. I am really happy with the results and feel the test team did a good job considering the workload."

Ricardo Zonta - Chassis TF106/06
No lap time

"Unfortunately I could not even get any work done today because I had an engine problem on my first lap of the day. I went out for the first time after doing an installation lap and noticed that the engine was feeling strange. I stopped the car after seeing some smoke and it turned out that the car would have to be worked on the rest of the day. Olivier did a good job taking over my long runs as I could not complete them."

Gerd Pfeiffer - Test Team Manager

"It was a mixed day of fortunes for us. We lost a whole day of running with Ricardo's car due to an engine-related problem on his first run of the day. We are still looking into what may have caused this. It is too bad that Ricardo had to retire early, but this is what testing is for and what we are working on to improve. Olivier on the other hand put in a good day of work and was able to complete his and Ricardo's long runs throughout the morning and afternoon. Tomorrow we will try to make up for lost time and continue with final preparations for the coming races."