Renault Paul Ricard test notes 2004-04-14

Over 1000km in a single day, and Franck Montagny gets his first taste of the R24.

Chassis programme
Fernando Alonso completed set-up work with the R24, and continued testing aerodynamic developments for Imola. Montagny ran in the R24 for the first time, and conducted a number of long runs aimed at getting good mileage on the new engine specification.

Engine programme
Montagny completed a race distance during the morning, and then ran the engine to almost 700km by the end of the day. A minor incident ended his day just ten minutes before the end of the session.

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer:

"We had an extremely good day - to complete over 1000km is a fantastic achievement. Given that this was Franck's first run in the R24, he had an enormous programme - but we almost completed it, falling just short of a full weekend's mileage. Fernando continued working with the new aerodynamic parts and engine specification, concentrating on set-ups work in the revised configuration."

Fernando Alonso
Chassis: R24-05
95 laps, 391 km
Best time: 1:08.002

Franck Montagny
Chassis: R24-04
168 laps, 692 km
Best time: 1:08.078

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