Cosworth Barcelona test summary

Cosworth achieves pre-season testing targets

Cosworth concluded its pre-season testing programme at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain on Sunday having accomplished all of its objectives ahead of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Cosworth-powered cars have totalled a cumulative 11,336km, or 2,547 laps, over the four official pre-season tests in Valencia, Jerez and Barcelona with AT&T Williams, Lotus Racing and Virgin Racing all taking to the track powered by Cosworth's CA2010 V8 engines.

Last week's four-day Barcelona test saw the culmination of the pre-season testing programme with Cosworth taking great satisfaction from the continued reliability and performance of the CA2010. AT&T Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg topped Friday's timesheets with a best lap of 1m20.614s, less than two-tenths-of-a-second shy of the fastest lap of the entire Barcelona test.

After two rain-affected sessions in Jerez, all teams enjoyed better weather conditions in Barcelona, although still far from perfect, with some rain affecting running on Saturday. Cosworth is now working closely with each of its teams in preparation for next week's Bahrain Grand Prix, the opening round of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.

General Manager of Cosworth's F1 Business Unit Mark Gallagher: "The Barcelona test brought to a satisfactory conclusion Cosworth's pre-season testing activities, our overall targets having been met with a particular emphasis on proving the durability of the CA2010 and developing solid working relationships with each of our customer teams. These were pivotal weeks for us, and it is of great credit to our design, development, manufacturing, build, test and track support staff that our return to the F1 circuit has started positively. There is much work to come, of course, and busy days ahead of us as we prepare with our teams for the Bahrain Grand Prix."

AT&T Williams Technical Director Sam Michael: "Cosworth have done a great job getting the CA2010 race ready over the past four tests. It's been an intensive schedule for everyone, but Cosworth have met the challenge and delivered everything we needed them to. We're satisfied with their development rate and the work they've done on the integration of the engine with the chassis. They've done a particularly good job with reliability as well."

Lotus Racing Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne: "Having returned from Barcelona we have now covered over 2,800kms in testing, and achieved the initial goal we had set for the tests which was to focus on the reliability of our car and our engine package. This would not have been possible without a close partnership with Cosworth, and now we're looking forward to the season ahead, and the relationship between Lotus Racing and Cosworth developing even further."

Virgin Racing Technical Director Nick Wirth: "Our three weeks of pre-season testing have provided us with the opportunity to put all of the component elements of not only the VR-01 but the whole Virgin Racing trackside operation to the test. I am delighted with the relationship we have established with our engine partner Cosworth and indeed with the out of the box performance of the Cosworth CA2010."

-source: cosworth