Renault Jerez test notes 2006-12-13

The Renault F1 Team was back in Jerez today for its last testing session of the season. Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen continued their programme at the wheel of the R26 which on-track career will end this week. The objectives of this ...

The Renault F1 Team was back in Jerez today for its last testing session of the season. Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen continued their programme at the wheel of the R26 which on-track career will end this week.

The objectives of this session were pretty similar to the ones from last week. The main priority was once again to add as much mileage as possible on the new 2007 gear box that equipped the two Renault cars this week. The other goal was to continue working on an important tyre programme with our new partner Bridgestone.

Today the Renault F1 Team enjoyed a trouble-free day and the two drivers had the opportunity to cover 215 laps with significant progress especially since they still have two days of test left.

At the end of the session, Heikki topped the timing sheet in 1:19.466 and his team mate set the fifth-fastest laptime in 1:20.108.

Giancarlo Fisichella:

"I am very pleased with this first day as we covered a good number of laps and made excellent progress in our programme. It was a very positive day which will be very useful for the next two days."

Heikki Kovalainen:

"We made good progress in all the different areas especially regarding the tyre and the new gear box. We recorded good data which will be a good basis for 2007."

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer:

"It was a good first day of testing. We completed our programme on both cars and enjoyed a trouble-free day which is quite satisfying as we are running the two cars with the new gear box this week."