Trulli happy with R24

Renault's Jarno Trulli discusses the new R24 after testing at Jerez this week

Q: Three days, 1100 km and no reliability problems: that's a good week of testing, no matter who you are...

Jarno Trulli: Definitely. I'm very happy with what we achieved. We did lots of laps (256 over three days) without any problems, completed all our programmes, chose tyres for Melbourne and made good progress with the car. It was an extremely good week.

Q: You ran two example of the RS24 engine to their maximum mileage this week without any problems: how is it performing?

JT: We had no problems at all and already, the engine is feeling much better than last year. There is more power, and it is more driveable. We ran the latest engine spec, a 'Z', to full mileage on Thursday, and next week at Imola, we will be testing the Melbourne 'A' spec for the first time. Things look promising.

Q: In what areas has the R24 improved since you first drove it, and where can progress still be made?

JT: The car is improving as we get to know it better: we are working through the set-up range. New parts are coming through all the time, so that allows us to explore different avenues and ideas as well. However, don't forget this is still a brand new car: as we get more and more experience, it will get better and better. But we are definitely heading in the right direction...

Q: And performance-wise, how happy are you?

JT: You always need to be careful talking about performance during the winter, but I think we are competitive, especially on the long runs. For the single qualifying lap, we still have some fine-tuning to do to get the car exactly where we want, but there is still time left for that.

Q: So you'll be ready for Melbourne?

JT: Without a doubt. We run two new cars simultaneously for the first time at Imola next week, and the team is working hard at Enstone and Viry to pack up and prepare. They have done a great job so far this winter: there's no reason to think that will change.

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