Maldonado completes the distance of two Grands Prix at Barcelona

Pastor Maldonado completed a tally of 140 laps – more than 650km or the distance of two Grands Prix – as he resumed test duties in the E23 Hybrid at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today. Pastor ran an extensive programme including a race simulation, clocking a best lap time of 1min 26.705secs.

Track: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain, 4.7km
Chassis: E23-02
Weather: Blue skies with picturesque clouds. Ambient 9°C - 17°C Track 13°C - 24°C
Programme: Front suspension geometry evaluation, race simulation, aero assessments
Laps Completed: 140
Classification: P6, 1:26.705
Interruptions: None

What's Next? Romain Grosjean will take to the wheel of the E23 tomorrow.

Pastor Maldonado: “We ran the car for a long time today which has been a good endorsement of my winter training programme as I still feel fresh after 140 laps! We did a lot of different assessments so I had plenty to think about and it was good to do the race simulation as we’ll soon be heading to Melbourne. There’s a lot of information to digest from today and I can’t wait to get back in the car on Sunday.”

Nick Chester, Technical Director: “We’ve completed a high tally of laps today and the E23 has run reliably throughout. This is great for us as we’ve been able to try a number of different set-up and aero configurations to enable us to get as much data as possible to make further progress in our understanding of our new car. Pastor did a great job despite driving the equivalent distance of more than two Grands Prix and we’re looking forward to Romain jumping back into the car tomorrow.”

Lotus F1 Team