After weeks of work in the wet conditions of Northern Europe, the Panasonic Toyota Racing team has finally made a welcome return to sunnier climes for this week’s test.

The Jerez circuit in the southern Spanish region of Andalucia is basking in its usual midsummer heat and most teams have grabbed the chance for a week of uninterrupted running. Track temperatures reached the high fifties on day one as the sun baked the asphalt.

Toyota’s third driver Franck Montagny was driving the TF107, putting in a full day’s work on the car and concentrating on brakes, systems and starts…

“Apart from shakedowns and straight line tests this is the first time that I have driven this car for over two months. But I’ve trained hard in the meantime so it didn’t feel any different to usual, even despite the extreme heat today, so that is good,” the Frenchman said.

“We spent much of the day running without traction control in preparation for 2008. That meant the car was sliding a lot but we put in some useful laps and found a good direction to take. This week we are also working on improving our start procedure along with brakes and other systems. So it was a good day and we’re getting there. We’ve already changed the car a lot and I’m happy with it and confident that progress can continue.”

Ralf Schumacher will be at the wheel today as the test continues.