BOIL SLICK

Less than 48 hours after Sunday’s German Grand Prix, Panasonic Toyota Racing returned to the track at Jerez today. In the blistering heat of the south of Spain, Jarno Trulli was at the wheel for the first action of this week’s four–day test. He spent the day on Bridgestone’s new slick tyres as part of the team’s early preparations for 2009. Running with a low–downforce package, he had a trouble–free day and completed nearly 100 laps. Tomorrow Jarno will continue as Toyota starts working towards the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 3. Timo Glock will take over on Thursday after he was cleared to drive following his heavy shunt at Hockenheim. Third driver Kamui Kobayashi will complete the test as scheduled on Friday.

Jarno Trulli – Chassis TF108–04
Best lap time: 1m 21.459s
Position: 7th
Total laps: 96
Total distance: 424.6km

“After a string of races and tests with mixed weather, it feels really hot here at Jerez. Today we have been concentrating on the new Bridgestone slick tyres for 2009. For that reason we have run with lower downforce to simulate the aerodynamics package that we will have next season. We have made a good start and collected some interesting data for the development of next year’s car. Tomorrow I will begin work to prepare for Hungary.”

Gerd Pfeiffer – Test Team Manager

"Apart from two installation laps, we spent the whole day working on the new tyres for 2009. It is the third time that we’ve tried them but we completed very little mileage on either of our previous attempts. So this was our first full day of running and we spent our time looking at different set–ups. The car ran without problems despite the extreme heat and we gathered a lot of information that will help us with our plans for next season."