Trouble-free first day for Toyota at Jerez
Panasonic Toyota Racing today returned to the track for the start of five days of testing in Jerez, Spain. The weather forecast is changeable for the week ahead but the skies were largely kind to the eight teams in action on day one.
The morning was cloudy but dry and despite a shower early in the afternoon the cars were able to run without major disruption. Kamui Kobayashi was at the wheel of the TF109, going through a programme of aerodynamic evaluations. He will hand over to Timo Glock as the test continues tomorrow.
Kamui Kobayashi - Chassis TF109-03
Best lap time: 1min 20.699s
Position: 3rd out of 8
Total laps: 79
"This morning was my first real chance to try out the TF109 in dry conditions. From the first run the car felt easy to drive so we were able to get straight into our programme of aero work. It certainly feels like a step forward from last year. The shower interrupted our afternoon but we still made it through our programme. Overall it went well so this was a good day of testing for us."
Pascal Vasselon, Senior General Manager Chassis: "Today we have had very different conditions compared to what we experienced at our last test in Bahrain. Now we are back in a typical European winter. This cooler weather leads to tyre graining, which means we have had to monitor the tyre situation carefully in order to be able to draw conclusions. We have also had to manage the weather conditions but Kamui has completed some useful aerodynamic work and we've had a trouble-free day."
