THE SEASON STARTS HERE

Panasonic Toyota Racing gave its new TF108 car an official testing debut at Jerez in Spain today following a successful roll-out at the same track yesterday. Jarno Trulli completed 67 laps at the wheel of the TF108 during yesterday's trouble-free roll-out in ideal conditions but the new car's first full day of testing started with rain pouring on to a wet track. Jarno's task was to put as many laps as possible on the new car to test systems and begin to understand set-up changes while his new team-mate Timo Glock drove a modified version of the TF107, working on the new gearbox and standard ECU, as well as making some set-up comparisons. Soon after lunch Timo spun into the gravel at turn 8, damaging his front wing against the tyre barriers. But quick work by his crew saw him back in action after a short delay and he completed his programme with no further trouble. Jarno made good progress understanding the TF108 and, thanks to impressive reliability from the new car, he completed 87laps. Timo takes over at the wheel of the new car tomorrow, with Kamui Kobayashi alongside.

Jarno Trulli - Chassis TF108/02
Best Lap Time: 1min 21.344s
Position: 8th
Total laps: 87
Total distance: 385.236km

"Everything went smoothly today. We were competitive all day, in the wet and in the dry. We pushed our performance forward and also gained more experience with this new car, which is very important and we are understanding more and more how it works. The roll-out yesterday was successful and we were able to complete a lot of laps without any trouble. The car seems to be running well and there are no major problems. I was happy to do so many laps with a new car today - it was a positive day."

Timo Glock - Chassis TF107/06
Best Lap Time: 1min 24.351s
Position: 13th
Total laps: 58
Total distance: 256.824km

"Today has been reasonable. I did quite a few laps in the TF107 and even though it is last year's car we can still get more information about the new gearbox and also how the car behaves without traction control, especially in the wet conditions this morning. We ran through our programme with no reliability problems but unfortunately I had a spin early in the afternoon when I touched the damp kerb and lost control which was a bit frustrating. I am excited by the chance to drive the new car tomorrow. The car has a totally new aerodynamic concept and so far everything has gone well with Jarno driving. Now I am really looking forward to getting the chance to drive the TF108 myself, it should be an interesting experience."

Pascal Vasselon - Senior General Manager Chassis

"We can be pleased with our progress so far with the TF108. The roll-out yesterday went well and we ran through several system checks with no significant problems. Today we started to look more at set-up and I believe we made a promising start but at this stage it is still too early to be comparing lap times. The main target today was to get information and data about the new car, how it behaves and how it reacts to changes, and we achieved that in both wet and dry conditions. Timo continued to drive the TF107 and he worked on refining the new gearbox and the standard ECU. He did some set-up work as well but the track conditions this morning did not help. In the afternoon we sent him out in challenging track conditions but this was a valuable learning opportunity now traction control has been outlawed. We are happy with our progress and looking forward to continuing the good work tomorrow."