Text - Panasonic Toyota Racing: Barcelona Test - 02-05

With only a month to go before the 2003 Formula 1 season gets underway in Melbourne, Australia, the Panasonic Toyota Racing team today concluded another productive test session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Olivier Panis completed a trouble-free 61 laps of the Spanish track in a best time of 1m16.945s ending the four-day test on a high note.

Olivier Panis - Car No. 20
Chassis: TF103/03
Best lap time: 1m16.945s, 61 laps completed
Working on: Mechanical and aerodynamic set-up work and tyre testing

"We had a good end to an encouraging week here in Barcelona today. I am very happy with what I have personally achieved over two days. We almost completed our tyre programme, which has been very important. We had a mechanical problem at the end of the session today, which meant we had to stop earlier than scheduled, but the consistency and balance of the TF103 have been very good this week."

Norbert Kreyer - General Manager, Race and Test Engineering "Generally, we had a large technical programme planned for this week and we managed to complete nearly all of the work we wanted to achieve. Both Cristiano and Olivier had tyre testing as a priority, as we start preparing for the debut race of the season in Melbourne. Aside from that, both drivers did a lot of aerodynamic and mechanical set-up work and have given us promising feedback."

Weather: Dry and sunny. Air temperature 04 - 15¡C.

Track: Dry all day. Track temperature 03 - 20¡C.

Preview
Panasonic Toyota Racing now moves back to Circuit Paul Ricard in France to continue preparations for the Australian Grand Prix. Olivier Panis, Cristiano da Matta and Ricardo Zonta will share the driving duties from 11-13 February. A full test report will be issued at the end of the three-day session.

Upcoming test sessions
11-13 February 2003, Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France 25-26 February 2003, Circuito de Jerez, Spain 25-27 February 2003, Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari, Imola, San Marino