MIDDLE EASTERN PROMISE

Panasonic Toyota Racing got its first test of a double-header in Bahrain underway with Timo Glock and Kamui Kobayashi behind the wheel of two TF108s on a sunny and mild day in the Middle East. The main item on the agenda for Timo was to continue to develop the set-up after solid progress in the last test at Valencia established a strong baseline. Kamui got his first chance to drive the TF108 so began by familiarising himself with the car before making initial set-up changes. Kamui- programme was interrupted in the morning by a harmless spin but his car suffered no serious damage and he was soon on track again, while Timo- set-up comparisons continued apace. Timo also found himself in the gravel after a minor afternoon off on a windy day but that did not stop him completing his mechanical set-up programme. He will be joined tomorrow by Jarno Trulli and the team expects to use the remainder of the test to continue set-up work, as well as making cooling checks in the warmer Bahraini weather and evaluating development items.

Timo Glock - Chassis TF108-02
Best Lap Time: 1min 33.418s
Position: 3rd
Total laps: 72


“I had quite a good day and we did a lot of useful work. In the morning there was a lot of sand on the track and from lap to lap we went quicker as the track got cleaner. It was difficult to get consistent track conditions but towards the end of the day it was better and we did some important tests. It has been a pretty good session and it was important to do these mechanical set-up changes. I hope tomorrow is less windy and we can continue this work.”

Kamui Kobayashi - Chassis TF108-03
Best Lap Time: 1min 33.856s
Position: 4th
Total laps: 62

“This was the first time I have driven the TF108 and also the first time I have driven here in Bahrain. That meant it was quite a tough day for me learning the track and the car but it was good as well. The TF108 definitely has a lot of potential and today I could feel we are making good progress with it. We are heading in the right direction but we need to work hard and continue to improve performance. The track was not ideal with all the sand this morning and it was also windy but we were still able to do a lot of work without any car trouble.”

Gerd Pfeiffer - Test Team Manager

“The track conditions on this first day made it quite challenging because there was a lot of sand on the circuit in the morning but as this cleared up and more rubber went down, the lap times improved. In these circumstances it is a bit tricky to make set-up comparisons but we gained a lot of data and we believe we have made some important steps. Now we will build on this strong start tomorrow with more set-up work and test item evaluation.”