Team Sauber Petronas ended their three day scheduled test session at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday just a little earlier than planned when regular driver Jacques Villeneuve had an off track excursion, the former champion experiencing oversteer while accelerating out of turn 9.
Thankfully Jacques was unharmed and the incident was at the end of the day. Up until that point he had covered a total of 80 laps in chassis C24-01 with a best time of 1:18.117. The Swiss based squad will return to the test from 8 to 10 February, this time at the Jerez circuit.
"Unfortunately our test here in Barcelona ended not the way we have wished for. At the final timed lap Jacques experienced oversteer while accelerating out of turn 9 and went off track. Fortunately Jacques was unharmed, but we now, of course, have to analyse the data to get a correct and thorough picture of the reason for this incident,” explained Willy Rampf. “The positive aspect of this test is that we achieved our set goal to complete an engine long-run. We simulated a two-race weekend situation and covered almost 1,400 kilometres with one PETRONAS engine without any problem. Overall, the last three test days demonstrated the reliability of the C24. Our target for the forthcoming tests - whereby we will run with two cars from now - will be to further work on the car's set-up and hence the improvement of the balance."
"Today we mainly concentrated on aerodynamic tests and assessed several different front wings, and were able to gather quite a lot of useful data and information,” added Jacques.“Of course, I'm disappointed that I went off track at our penultimately scheduled lap, but at least it was just before the finish of today, so we didn't lose much valuable time."
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