Le Castellet Jordan testing notes 96-02-04

Paul Ricard Testing Feb 1st to 4th. 1996. Best times 1. Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:07.60. 2. Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 1:07.89. 3. Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen 1:08.93. 4. Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen 1:09.80 Even though rainy conditions made things difficult during the first two days, Jordan-Peugeot left the Paul Ricard circuit in France satisfied with the work done during the four-day test. ``Despite the fact that the weather rained the first two days, this was both a very exciting test and a very interesting one as well,'' Rubens Barrichello said. ``The new Jordan 196 is a better car than last year's and we've hardly started with it; I'm sure I could not have done that time with last year's car.'' Referring to the teams' previous test at Barcelona, Barri- chello's team mate, Martin Brundle, said it pointed the team in the right direction. ``Barcelona was very significant because we actually had a dry track - for some of the time anyway - and that enabled us to begin to understand the car and what makes it work,'' Brundle said. ``There are lots of differences, not just in terms of changes to the regulations but also in the philosophy of this car over the 195 and it took a little while to understand how the car wanted to work. ``Towards the end of Barcelona we started to hone in on what we needed, and on the last day we got the car flying. We did a very competitive time in less than ideal conditions, with fuel still on board and we really got a good feel for the car.'' Jordan will spend a day carrying out aerodynamic tests at the Danielson facility in France before returning to Barcelona, Feb 12th to 15th for further testing. The final test session for the team before the new season starts with the March 10th Austra- lian Grand Prix is scheduled for Feb 20th to 23rd at Estoril.

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