WINTER WARM–UP

The good weather continued at Barcelona for the last day of official winter testing before the start of the 2008 Formula 1 season. Panasonic Toyota Racing used the time available to carry out final preparations for the Australian Grand Prix, now just over a fortnight away. Race drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock worked on fine-tuning set-ups and finishing off their groundwork for the first race. Jarno even set the fastest time of the day during a qualifying run while the track was at its best in the morning. He finished with 83 laps while Timo managed 65 after a more disrupted day. The next time Toyota will be on track with the rest of the F1 grid will be in Melbourne for Friday practice on March 14.

Jarno Trulli - Chassis TF108-02
Best lap time: 1m 20.801s
Position: 1st
Total laps: 83
Total distance: 386.4km

“That was another positive day. We made some progress in understanding the car and the set–up. Even though this is only a test, it’s nice to see the mechanics and the guys smiling because today’s times are good motivation. There is still room for improvement but this shows the team has done a good job over the winter tests. Of course we won’t know the real running order until Melbourne but I’m quite confident for the season. It- definitely looking much better than last year so I’m happy for the team.”

Timo Glock - Chassis TF108-04
Best lap time: 1m 22.155s
Position: 11th
Total laps: 65
Total distance: 302.6km

“Today was a frustrating day for me. I didn’t find a way to set up the car to my driving style and the pace suffered as a result. It’s strange that on the first morning we had okay pace then it’s been dropping off during the week. Perhaps the problem is the hard tyre but we will have to analyse all the data. At the moment it doesns bode well for Australia but we have a couple of weeks to turn things around.”

Pascal Vasselon - Senior General Manager Chassis

“Given the mixed weather we faced here last week it was important to complete more running over these three days. This week shows that our preparations for Melbourne have been going very well. After Jarno- satisfying long run yesterday we did some very fruitful qualifying simulations today so we feel ready for the first race. Timo was more unfortunate to have a small off at the start of his qualifying simulation, compromising his run plan today. But we have done enough mileage so far over the winter to be confident that we can head to Melbourne without any major concerns.”