Toyota B-spec makes debut at Paul Ricard

With four races now into the season, Panasonic Toyota Racing continues on its quest of gaining podium points by making a stop at the Circuit Paul Ricard to prepare for the Grand Prix at Nürburgring. The team started a three-day test programme with Jarno Trulli, focusing on collecting data from the new B-car package and with Ricardo Zonta running through a full list of tyre tests. Both drivers return for tomorrow's testing.

SPRING CLEANING
Spring has arrived and with it, the usual pollen season. Ricardo Zonta, having to deal with dirty track conditions, put in a good day of testing.

Ricardo Zonta - Chassis TF106/01
Best lap time: 0m58.262s
Total laps: 91
Total distance: 296.114km
Ricardo Zonta "This is the first time that we have used this circuit layout, so we had to work on our set-up to adjust to this. In the morning, the track was very dirty, with pollen and dust from the trees, therefore, we also spent a lot of time cleaning the track. Nevertheless, we did a lot of different tyre tests and the day turned out to be productive, with my car performing well. Now we have tomorrow and Friday to focus on some long runs."

GETTING THE HANG OF THINGS
After competing in his 153rd Grand Prix at Imola, Jarno Trulli joined the test program in Le Castellet at the wheel of the new B-car package.

Jarno Trulli - Chassis TF106/07B
Best lap time: 0m58.630ss
Total laps: 63
Total distance: 205km
Jarno Trulli "We had a difficult morning with the track conditions and then we had some delays with my car. The day was very promising, especially with the new car and in general, the testing we got through was good. Tomorrow I hope to put in even more laps to gain a feeling for the new package and to be able to make a better judgement."

B-CAR DEBUT
Panasonic Toyota Racing had a challenging, yet profitable day, as Dieter Gass, Chief Race and Test Team Engineer explains "This is the first day with the B-car and although we had some small issues which caused delays, these were not directly related to the new car. Overall it is good to have the car testing on the track. The team back in Cologne pushed hard to prepare everything in time. This new package is a consequent realization of the change we had with the front suspension. With this being the major new item, this allows up to fully exploit the aerodynamic and mechanical side of the front suspension. Yet it is still too early to say anything about the performance, because we did not do enough running with it today. On the other hand, with Ricardo's car we concentrated on tyre testing and found some interesting new solutions."