Jordan Estoril testing

The Benson and Hedges Total Jordan Peugeot team have been running the new Jordan Peugeot 197 in Estoril, Portugal for the past six days. Ralf Schumacher kicked things of on Friday and was joined by team mate Giancarlo Fisichella from Saturday. This was the first time that the team have tested two 197 chassis side by side.

Conditions were very wet on the opening day and Ralf's was the only car to be seen on the track the team managed to work on the general set up but eventually conditions got worse and Ralf hung up his helmet for the day.

On Saturday Schurnacher's car suffered engine related technical problems. Fisichella was only out in the afternoon and he did a few installation laps as it was the first run for his car.

Giancarlo spent Sunday morning evaluating some new specification wet tyres and he was the fastest of all the runners in these conditions. Both drivers went out on slicks in the afternoon. Ralf had a troublesome day due to problems with engine ancillaries. Fisichella, on his first full day of proper running in the 197, set a time which was second fastest of the day (1.22.16).

The weather was dry on Monday and the team made good progress. Ralf managed to do a race distance run with fill pit stops and Giancarlo was only prevented from taking the fastest lap of the day by the intervention of a kamikaze dog which ran out onto the track in front of him.

Tuesday was another fine day, although it proved to be frustrating for the Jordan Peugeot team. Fisichella was hampered by minor clutch problems which prevented him carrying out the intended race run. Ralf also had some problems with his clutch and he concentrated on general set up work.

On the last day of testing, Fisichella completed his first till race distance. Ralf again concentrated on race set ups and the team felt they had achieved a positive set up.

Gary Anderson, Technical Director, commented today that the test has been a success; "I am very happy with the general running of the car and the performance of our Goodyear tyres. I feel that it was a very positive test, particularly as we did all the running with race fuel. After sorting out a few niggling problems it was good for both Peugeot and ourselves to achieve two full race distance runs as well" The team will be testing again at Silverstone next week when they will be running the third chassis.

Best Lap time; Ralf Schumacher 1.19.76 Giancarlo Fisichella 1.19.96

Total number of laps: Ralf Schumacher - 266 Giancarlo Fisichella - 233

-- Stephen M Baines

"[The Autosport sticker] started to peel off in the middle of Eau Rouge and it distracted me. In fact it was the first thing to hit the barrier" Tiff Needell - Jaguar XJR-15 Challenge - Interview with Autosport

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