Doornbos shines again at Silverstone

Just like in the previous two Grand Prix at Indianapolis and Magny-Cours, Robert Doornbos again outclassed his teammates Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan during the Friday Free Practise sessions ahead of the British Grand Prix. At the 5.151 kilometer long track next to the factory of Jordan Grand Prix, Doornbos set a fastest lap of 1:22.812 in just 34 laps which handed him a deserving 20th position.

Robert Doornbos.

Photo by xpb.cc.

In the first hour of practise between 12:00 and 13:00 hours, Doornbos concentrated on finding a good set-up for his EJ15B at the fast English circuit near Northampton. The renewed aerodynamic package mainly brings an improved overall balance in the numerous highspeed corners Silverstone offers. As the new car has not yet been tested at the track near Jordan Grand Prix' factory, an unexpected shortage of engine-cooling unfortunately caused some delay in Free Practise 01.

In order to give the team sufficient time to make the required adjustment to the bodywork before the start of the afternoon session, Doornbos halted halfway the session. The 23-year old Dutchman still drove 12 laps in total on only one set of tyres, and still managed to outpace his teammates Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro in the first 30 minutes. As the griplevel at the track improved continiously, both Karthikeyan and Monteiro were able to better Doornbos' laptime later on in the session.

After the team made several adjustments to the radiators and the hydraulic system in the EJ15B, Doornbos was happy to get through his slightly adjusted programme. Doornbos, who started the afternoon session with two runs of seven laps each to evaluate the two types of tyres Bridgestone brought with them for this race, also had some time left to concentrate on the development of the renewed car.

In the final minutes of the session, Jordan Grand Prix'test- and reserve driver also clocked a fastest time of 1:22.812, by which he created a gap of almost one second to both Monteiro (1:23.629) and Karthikeyan (1:23.891).

Robert Doornbos:

"Today was very productive. Though we were not able to drive the maximum amount of laps we might have done, I still managed to get the maximum out of both Free Practises. Compliments for the team, by the way they made the necessary changes to the car over the lunch. In the remaining time of the afternoon session, I was able to make the right tyre comparison we needed."

"With a view to our Paul Ricard test next week, we ended the day with some basic set-up work. By pushing hard in the last few minutes I was able to set a competitive laptime, which encourages me. I hope the team can enjoy a strong home race on Sunday!"

-www.robertdoornbos.com-