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Panasonic Toyota Racing
Barcelona Test: Round-Up
Drivers: Ralf Schumacher; Jarno Trulli
Track Length: 4.627kms
Panasonic Toyota Racing today completed the last day of this week's test programme at Barcelona. Both Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli had productive days, putting in a lot of laps and collecting useful data. The team will draw on these results to make conclusive decisions about car specifications for the upcoming race. Next week, the team is scheduled to test in Valencia Wednesday and Thursday (March 1-2) in its final test outing before the 2006 season.
Drivers:
Jarno Trulli Best lap: 1m16.057s, total laps: 298 Ralf Schumacher Best lap: 1m15.973s, total laps: 191
STEPPING STONE
Jarno Trulli concluded this week's testing, putting in almost 300 laps over three days.
Jarno Trulli - Chassis TF106/04
Best lap time: 1m16.024s
Total laps: 100
Total distance: 463kms
"This week we mainly worked on the tyre choice for Bahrain. We worked on long and short runs, but the temperature has been too cold for us. I am sure that a warmer temperature will ensure that we are more competitive. The new aerodynamic package has been a good step forward. All in all we have done a lot work, but of course we will find out in Bahrain how we stand up against the other teams."
FINAL TUNING
Ralf Schumacher had to end his day early to have work done on his cooling system, which was a minor problem that did not overshadow his week of testing.
Ralf Schumacher - Chassis TF106/03
Best lap time: 1m16.288s
Total laps: 42
Total distance: 194kms
"These three days of testing have turned out to be constructive; especially in regards to the weather, because we expected high chances of rain. I am glad that the weather held out because I was able to finally put in some meaningful runs. Although I could only put in 41 laps today, my impressions have all been positive and particularly with the potential of the car and the team as a whole. We have one more test next week to make any final conclusions and then it is off to the races."
LOOKING AHEAD
Pascal Vasselon, General Manager Car Design and Development, has observed the winter testing programme and is optimistic going into the new season.
"We have been fortunate here with the weather conditions, as we were actually expecting rain, so in fact it gave us the opportunity to finalize some decisions for the first race, including the tyre choice. We have a very good idea of what we will run in Bahrain. Among these three days we have had some interesting results and could therefore make straightforward decisions to even see what we would run at the race in Barcelona later in the season. In the end, I can only say that year after year it is difficult to draw conclusions from pre-season testing, but we are definitely pleased that we have achieved so much throughout the whole winter."