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Panasonic Toyota Racing
Turkish Grand Prix - Preview
Tuesday 2 June 2009
Date: Sunday, 7 June, 2pm CET
Round: 7 of 17
Venue: Istanbul Park
Distance: 5.338km (58 laps)
Lap record: 1min 24.770s (2005)
History: The Turkish Grand Prix has been held four times since its debut on the Formula 1 calendar in 2005, all of these races being at Istanbul Park.
Panasonic Toyota Racing heads beyond the eastern boundary of Europe this weekend for the Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul Park on the outskirts of the historic city. The modern 14-turn circuit, located on the Asian side of Istanbul, includes the triple-apex Turn 8, which challenges car and tyres alike. This weekend the team will be using the same soft and hard compound Bridgestone Potenza tyres as in Malaysia, although this combination has yet to be raced this season due to the Sunday rain in Sepang. After a thoroughly disappointing Monaco Grand Prix saw neither driver score points, Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock fully expect a return to form this weekend. The team has competed in every Turkish Grand Prix so far, finishing in the points on two of the four occasions, and another healthy points haul is targeted to reinforce its third place in the Constructors' Championship.
Jarno Trulli (Car 9): "I am hopeful of a strong result this weekend. Monaco was difficult for everyone in the team but that is in the past now and we are looking forward to the next race. Monaco is basically a one-off circuit for Formula 1 and the Istanbul track is very different so I'm sure we will be a lot more competitive this weekend. We are third in the Constructors' Championship which shows that overall we are in good shape this year and it is important we return to the performance level we had in the first four races. Istanbul is not one of my favourite circuits and I have not had much luck there in the past; but I am determined to change that. Turn 8 is the most challenging part of the track and it's important to get your set-up right for this as you need a balanced car to be really quick. I can't wait to start practice and find out where we are because I am fired up to bounce back this weekend."
Timo Glock (Car 10): "I am going to Turkey with a huge amount of determination because Monaco was not the kind of weekend we expect and we are all looking forward to getting back to where we belong. Everyone at the team is really passionate about racing and about succeeding so the Monaco weekend hurt us but also gave us even more motivation to improve. I have spent some time at the factory since then to do what I can to help and I can see everyone there is giving everything for the team to succeed. Clearly we want to get back in the points this weekend but really our goals are higher than that and we ultimately want to be fighting for the podium. It's a very close fight at the moment so it's difficult to predict exactly what will happen but certainly we expect a big improvement and I am looking forward to battling at the right end of the grid in Turkey."
John Howett, President: "Clearly we want - and expect - to deliver a significantly better performance in Turkey than we did in Monaco, which was unacceptable to us. We saw in Spain and Monaco that we were not good enough on slow-speed sectors and we have worked tirelessly to understand the reason for this. It tends to be influenced by traction and this was magnified by Monaco. We have conducted a straight-line aero test and that will give us the information we need to rapidly develop a solution. Turkey is a very different circuit to Monaco and I am very optimistic we will be strong."
Today, Tomorrow, Toyota This year, as part of a global Toyota campaign, the TF109s feature messages used by local Toyota distributors to thank them for their continuing support of Panasonic Toyota Racing. For the European races, including Turkey, 'Today, Tomorrow, Toyota' is inspired by Toyota in Europe.