THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Panasonic Toyota Racing brought the curtain down on the 2007 season with the final test of the year at Jerez in Spain today. Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli took the wheel for another day of development for next year and beyond, although both drivers waited for an improvement in track conditions before beginning work on an overcast morning. With all teams restricted to 30,000km of testing in 2007, the remaining laps had to be used carefully but the team had a productive day. Both drivers sampled the 2009 slick tyres and Jarno also had stints with reduced downforce in preparation for 2009 regulation changes. In addition, Timo continued work on aerodynamic and mechanical set-up while Jarno gathered more information on the standard ECU. Testing may have stopped for the year but the hard work continues to develop and build the TF108, which will be unveiled to the world for the first time on 10 January.

Timo Glock - Chassis TF107/03
Best Lap Time: 1min 19.961s
Position: 6th
Total laps: 59
Total distance: 261.252km

Jarno Trulli - Chassis TF107/06
Best Lap Time: 1min 20.229s
Position: 9th
Total laps: 68
Total distance: 301.104km

“We tried to achieve many things today so it was quite busy for me. I used the new slick tyres and they gave a lot more grip and were pretty consistent. We also tried the tyres with 2009 levels of downforce which was quite different and a bit tricky. It was not easy to understand everything because we tried so many different things during the day. We collected a lot of data and now we must study that and figure out the solution. We tried to do as many laps as possible, which was our main target in order to put mileage on the new rear end and 2008 ECU.”

Dieter Gass - Chief Engineer Race and Test

“That was a successful day and we completed the programme without any issues. We have used up our entire annual allocation of kilometres and Bridgestone Potenza tyres so we can be pleased with that. It was interesting to see Jarno driving on slick tyres today. He is one of the few drivers here this week to have previous experience of Formula 1 slick tyres and his feedback has been very helpful. We have been looking ahead to 2009 more today with the slick tyres and reduced downforce levels and we can be pleased with our progress. Timo has once again given good input into set-up development, including using the slick tyres again. It has been a pleasure having him in the car this week and he has made a strong contribution already to our development.”