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Panasonic Toyota Racing
Valencia Test - Day 3
Panasonic Toyota Racing concluded its three-day test at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia today with only Ralf Schumacher at the wheel on a sunny, clear day in Spain. High temperatures were recorded around the rear crash structure last night, leaving the team no option but to run only Schumacher today and give Jarno Trulli an unscheduled day off. Despite that, the team made the best of the situation and Schumacher was able to run system checks and gain set-up data. A fuel pump issue interrupted his work soon after lunch, as well as a series of red flags, but he was back on track later in the afternoon and set a string of competitive lap times to finish the day fastest overall. The team resumes its pre-season testing programme at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez on Tuesday.
Ralf Schumacher - Chassis TF107/701
Best Lap Time: 1min 11.297s
Total laps: 50
Total distance: 200km
"We had a few minor issues today but in general it was a positive day. The car again felt good and in the afternoon I had the chance to work on set-up which seemed to go quite well. I am still optimistic about this car’s potential but it is too early to say where we stand compared with the others. It was nice to set the fastest time of the day but we still have a lot of work to do."
Pascal Vasselon, Senior General Manager Chassis
"Obviously today did not go as planned due to the high temperatures around the rear crash structure that we discovered last night. Unfortunately this meant we were not able to run a two-car programme as planned. These kind of things are a natural part of testing and they are one of the reasons why all teams test their cars so much before the season. The guys worked hard to make sure Ralf had a chance to put some more miles on the TF107 in the afternoon and that gave us some important information. We will now look into all the data and get back testing next week in Jerez, where we expect to continue the positive progress we have made so far on the new car."