French GP: Jaguar Friday practice notes

Mixed weather conditions frustrated the Jaguar Racing drivers today as they took to the Nevers Magny-Cours Circuit in France. Mark Webber (27), Christian Klien (21) and Björn Wirdheim (24) were all limited by the extreme wet weather conditions and had to curtail their test programme as a result of the variable conditions.

As a result the tyre choice has been delayed until midday tomorrow thus giving the teams extended track time to make their decisions ahead of the race. The team is pleased with the pace of the car on track but will be looking to complete more running tomorrow to allow themselves as much preparation time as possible.

Mark Webber:

"I managed 14 laps today which is not exactly satisfactory given what we were planning to do. Unfortunately the weather conditions really hampered our running time and we had to make do with that limited number of laps. All of the teams are in the same boat though so there is not a lot we can do about it. During the time I was on track though, the R5 felt good and the balance was fine. I am now preparing for tomorrow and I will be looking for more track time so it should be a busy day."

Christian Klien:

"Today was quite a difficult day with us only completing ten laps in dry conditions. The rain was quite unpredictable and just as the track was drying out it started raining again. This does make it difficult for us to complete our testing programme but we did our best and I am pleased with the results. I like this track and feel comfortable here and I am now focusing on the task ahead tomorrow."

Björn Wirdheim:

"Today was not ideal for us as the bad weather affected our running time quite extensively. I tried my best to work on tyres during the morning session but it was so difficult with the conditions changing so rapidly. I am pleased to see that we now have until tomorrow at midday to make our tyre choice, otherwise it would have been a very frustrating decision to have to make."

Dr Mark Gillan -- Head of Vehicle Performance:

"The team and the drivers did a good job today considering we spent a lot of it in the garage. Once the rain started it never really stopped and this limited the running programme. We did keep sending Mark, Christian and Bjorn out as often as we could but there is no point running in the wet when you are not learning anything new."

"Instead we will now be looking to make the most of tomorrow and we will certainly be looking to complete many more laps ahead of the afternoon qualifying session. The R5 was reliable today and the drivers seem to be very comfortable with it. We are continuing to develop our powertrain so both drivers should be benefiting from this over the course of the weekend."

Mark Webber
Position: 8th
Best time: 1:16.745
Chassis: R5-04

Christian Klien
Position: 16th
Best time: 1:17.936
Chassis: R5-01

Björn Wirdheim
Position: 20th
Best time: 1:19.179
Chassis: R5-05

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