Toyota Bahrain test notes 2009-02-10

Driver: Timo Glock
Track length: 5.412km

SUNNY DELIGHT

Panasonic Toyota Racing today kicked off two weeks of scheduled testing in Bahrain. After the first test of the year was disrupted by rain in Portugal, the team has decamped to the Middle East in order to escape the harsh European winter. After a brief morning delay when the circuit was shrouded in fog, the local climate came into its own with a day of warm sunny weather. Timo Glock took full advantage, putting the TF109 through its paces and clocking up 79 laps of set-up work on the new car. Timo will return to the cockpit tomorrow as Toyota continues its preparations for the 2009 season.

Timo Glock - Chassis TF109-01
Best lap time: 1min 33.501s
Position: 1st
Total laps: 82

"After the weather intervened during our Portugal test, this was our first real chance to give the TF109 a run in dry conditions. The fog held us up briefly at the start but it wasn't a major problem. We did a lot of set-up work and in the end we found a good direction. The car felt quite consistent so this is already a positive sign. We got through a lot of laps so this was an encouraging start to the test."

Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test

"This has already been a positive day and a good way to start our two weeks in Bahrain. It's great to be here in nice weather and this circuit always has very good temperatures for a winter test. We were slightly delayed by fog early this morning but from then on we could run at significant temperatures. We did some aero work and evaluated different set-up options, learning what direction we have to take with the new car, new aero package and new tyres. We had no major problems and completed some useful work."

-credit: toyota