Toyota Jerez test notes 2006-01-18

Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli today continued their week of testing at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain. Unfortunately both drivers had disrupted days and could not put in as many laps as they would have hoped, but the team still gained useful experience of the TF106.

Ralf put in some solid work on suspension settings but a gearshift problem limited his running time in the afternoon. Jarno missed some of the morning session after a clutch sensor problem but he carried out a tyre test in the afternoon and posted the 2nd quickest time of the day. The two drivers will be back at the track tomorrow for the final day of this week's test.

SENSOR DIRECTION

Jarno Trulli missed some early running due to a clutch sensor problem but he had a better afternoon, successfully completing a tyre comparison.

Jarno Trulli:

"We are still getting through mileage and gaining experience on the car. The clutch sensor problem this morning meant that we could not get through a huge amount of work but the afternoon was better, making this a reasonable day for us. We did some set-up work and carried out some tyre comparisons and gained useful data. Now we will look for a full day of running in the last day of the test tomorrow."

SUSPENSION PLAN

Ralf Schumacher carried out a suspension comparison before a gearshift problem cut short his day's work.

Ralf Schumacher:

"We couldn't get through as much work as we would have liked today, but we still took a look at some different suspension settings. It is a pity that we could not put in more laps but at least the TF106 still feels good to drive and it is well balanced. We will now look forward to a successful day of running tomorrow to round off the week on a high note."

TWO OUT OF THREE AIN'T BAD

Despite the glitches, Panasonic Toyota Racing still made some progress on this, the second day of its three-day test at Jerez.

Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager:

"That was a relatively difficult day of testing for us. The testing day is quite short here anyway because the track takes a while to warm up in the morning, so any lost running time is difficult to make up. Ralf put in some solid work in the morning but he lost time after lunch while we investigated his gearshift problem."

"Jarno, by contrast, had a good afternoon but missed out on some running in the morning with a clutch sensor problem. Still, between them we were able to put in a fair amount of laps and gain more experience of the TF106."

Jarno Trulli
Chassis TF106/02
Best lap time: 1m18.657s
Total laps: 43
Total distance: 190.2km

Ralf Schumacher
Chassis TF106/01
Best lap time: 1m20.587s
Total laps: 39
Total distance: 172.5km

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