Platzhalter Motorsport
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Panasonic Toyota Racing

Jerez Test Round-Up

Motorsport
Location: Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Spain
Dates: 22-23-24 June 2005
Drivers: Jarno Trulli (24); Olivier Panis (22-23); Ricardo Zonta (22-23-24).
Track length: 4.428kms

Jarno Trulli – Chassis TF105/07
Best lap time: 1m17.450s
Total laps: 112
Total distance: 495.94kms

- Jarno, what were you concentrating on?
I was running just the single day and so I had a big programme of performance evaluation on the Magny Cours tyres to do. It was very intensive and I completed more than 100 laps. We had no technical problems, I finished the work and I am quite optimistic for the French Grand Prix.

Olivier Panis – Chassis TF105/07
Best lap time: 1m18.530s
Total laps: 144
Total distance: 619.92kms

- Olivier, was it a successful test for you as well?
Yes. On Wednesday we had a very good day and chose the prime tyres for the the French GP. That was all very satisfactory although the car set-up was not perfect. We changed it overnight and the car was much more to my liking on Thursday.

- Did you continue with the same programme?
It was basically tyres again, yes, but we did more work with the option tyre than the prime. We had a small gearbox glitch but didn't lose any of the programme because I was scheduled to stop early in any case. I had a promotional commitment in Dublin to attend and then three days at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England.


Ricardo Zonta – Chassis TF105/06
Best lap time: 1m17.962s
Total laps: 292
Total distance: 1292.98kms

- Ricardo, what was the main thrust of your programme?
It was basically a very intensive tyre programme with some damper testing on the final day. It went very well. We did three long runs on Thursday to do race distance evaluation on the Magny Cours tyres. It was a productive day with no mechanical problems, although the weather was very hot, which is even harder on tyres.

- Are you happy to stand down for Olivier to drive on Friday at his home race?
Absolutely. Especially after flying straight back across the Atlantic and doing almost 1300kms of testing in three days. I think I deserve a rest!

Gerd Pfeiffer (chief test engineer)
- What is the position with Ralf Schumacher, who was originally scheduled to test?
Ralf has no lasting ill effects after his accident at Indianapolis last Friday but we always make driver safety the priority. The team's medical staff decided that the sensible thing to do was maximise Ralf's recovery time before Magny Cours, where he will return to the cockpit alongside Jarno.

- How would you sum up the test overall?
It was a very good test and we got through an excellent work load. We had one more damper configuration we would like to have tried with Ricardo on Friday but we had to stop to change an oil cooler and he ended up just one lap short of the magic 100 laps on that day. But with almost 1300kms to his name over the three days, I don't think we can complain!