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Panasonic Toyota Racing
Sepang Test - Day 2
Panasonic Toyota Racing resumed preparations for the Malaysian Grand Prix with the second day of testing at the Sepang circuit, near Kuala Lumpur. After putting the TF107 through its paces on day one, Franck Montagny stepped aside for Ralf Schumacher to take over driving duties today. Ralf battled the heat and humidity on another day of bright sunshine as he took his turn to try out different set-ups in the search for a perfect answer to Sepang’s sweeping fast corners and tight hairpins. Throughout the day the team repeated the impressive reliability shown over the Australian Grand Prix weekend and Ralf, despite a spin in the middle of the afternoon, enjoyed a largely trouble-free day, completing his programme and more than a race distance. Ralf will be back in action tomorrow for the final day of testing before the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Ralf Schumacher - Chassis TF107/03
Best Lap Time: 1min 35.751s
Position: 4th
Total laps: 83
Total distance: 454.5km
"Today was reasonable, we didn’t have any problems with the car which is positive. It gets very hot in the car but I have done my training to be ready for this so I can cope. For me it was a useful session and it should help us for the Grand Prix here next weekend. We worked on different set-ups, seeing how the car and tyres work in different conditions and everything went well. We have a bit of work to do after the first race of the season to get the performance we expect but so far the team is making good progress and I hope that is the case tomorrow as well."
Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager
"We had a productive day today, trying out various set-ups and making tyre comparisons for the race here at Sepang next weekend. It was very positive that we completed the day without any mechanical problems despite the heat. That bodes well for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The only small delay came when Ralf spun but there was no damage done so that did not cost much time. After completing so many laps, we have a lot of information about how the car handles on this track with each different type of tyre. Now we expect to continue to make positive progress tomorrow on the final test day."