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With just a one day break after the European Grand prix, teams were back on the test track today with six of the eleven teams opting to travel to the Jerez circuit in Southern Spain.
On day one, McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa finished at the top of the timesheets, the Spaniard’s program during the morning focusing on set-up and aerodynamic work for the Hungarian Grand Prix. During the afternoon, all the teams spent some time preparing for the regulation changes for the 2008 season, with the cars running without traction control.
Second for the day was Toyota test driver Franck Montagny who completed 73 laps of the track to finish over a second behind the McLaren…
“Today Franck had a range of items to test in his programme,” explained Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager. “One of the main areas we worked on was brake testing but he also did some work on starts and other systems along with some runs without traction control. It was a productive day and we made it through our planned programme without problems. Ralf will take over the driving duties for tomorrow.”
Williams’ tester Kazuki Nakajima was third overall after a trouble free run where he concentrated on set-up work prior to the next race in Budapest. There were no problems with the car and the Grove based squad plan to carry on with their test program tomorrow.
Super Aguri were on duty with James Rossiter with the primary focus being to evaluate and understand the Bridgestone Potenza tyre options in hot conditions to prepare the team for the high temperatures usually experienced at the Hungarian Grand Prix. James ran through initial set-up work and longer tyre runs. He ended the day with the fourth fastest lap time ahead of Honda’s Christian Klien, Renault’s Nelson Piquet and Red Bull Racing’s Sebastien Buemi, who is currently contesting the GP2 series for ART GP.
Following the weather disruptions teams have faced at recent tests at Silverstone and Spa, they are relieved to have a week where they can expect hot, sunny conditions throughout.
| Pos |
Driver |
Constructor |
Time |
Laps |
| 1 |
Pedro de la Rosa |
McLaren |
1m20.111 |
69 |
| 2 |
Franck Montangy |
Toyota |
1m21.136 |
73 |
| 3 |
Kazuki Nakajima |
Williams |
1m21.424 |
103 |
| 4 |
James Rossiter |
Super Aguri |
1m21.683 |
92 |
| 5 |
Christian Klien |
Honda |
1m22.035 |
70 |
| 6 |
Nelson Piquet |
Renault |
1m22.537 |
68 |
| 7 |
Sebastien Buemi |
Red Bull Racing |
1m22.565 |
78 |
|
;)
