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Panasonic Toyota Racing
Brazilian Grand Prix - Free Practice Round-Up
Jarno Trulli (Car 11, Chassis TF108-05)
Summary: Two smooth sessions of practice, setting the 3rd fastest time of the afternoon
P1 11th Best Lap Time: 1m 13.600s (+1.295s) Laps: 24
P2 3rd Best Lap Time: 1m 12.435s (+0.139s) Laps: 44 "I was ill with the flu yesterday so I took the time to rest in order to help me recover. Today I have been feeling better and I was able to drive with no problems. We had a good Friday session in general, going through the set-up work and looking at tyre choice for the race. We worked on balancing the car and we had some success. We still have some areas to improve but in general I'm happy and we have shown a good level of competitiveness so far. It's only Friday and ideally we would like higher track temperatures but all in all this has been a good day."
Timo Glock (Car 12, Chassis TF108-07)
Summary: No technical problems but he struggled to find the best balance in the afternoon session
P1 10th Best Lap Time: 1m 13.466s (+1.161s) Laps: 33
P2 14th Best Lap Time: 1m 13.041s (+0.745s) Laps: 39 "It was a pretty difficult day for me. This is one of the races I did for Jordan in 2004 so I have experience of this track. That was a tricky race for me but the track surface is not as bumpy this year. Still, the car felt a bit strange so it's hard to understand where we are at the moment. We will have to analyse the data and see what we can do to make it right for tomorrow. Hopefully we can find a good direction, otherwise I will hope for rain! Whatever the weather, we should aim to make the points again as we did in China."
Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test "We can be pleased with today's two sessions, which were trouble-free from a technical perspective. We smoothly ran through our programme and gained a clear picture over what we will do for the rest of the weekend with the tyres. We still have some work to do on the car balance, especially for Timo, who is struggling mainly with the braking. So that's something we have to look into overnight to give him a better balance for tomorrow. But overall this is a good start to the weekend and we are looking forward to a strong performance in the final race of the season."
Panasonic Toyota Racing, featuring... On The Right Track: Solid Progress for Panasonic Toyota Racing The 2008 season has been the second most productive in the short history of Panasonic Toyota Racing. With two podiums and 52 points in the 17 races so far, more than the two previous seasons combined, it is clear the team has made significant progress.
Such a step forward is the result of many months of hard work by every member of the 650-strong team at the technical centre in Cologne, Germany since the first design decisions were taken on the TF108 in December 2006. Using Toyota Way methodology, passion and dedication, the team developed the concept before refining it at last winter's tests and introducing upgrades at almost every race in 2008.
Still, the team has higher aims, as Toyota Motorsport President John Howett explains: "It's great to be back on the podium with two drivers. But the future is the middle step of the podium, number one. There's no doubt in my mind that we will win races and become world champions in the future."
For the full feature, in text or video format, please visit the broadcast room of www.toyota-f1-world.com.