Encouraging day for Renault

The ING Renault F1 Team today completed the second day of its test programme at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, with both Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen at the wheel of the two R27 chassis.

The French team enjoyed an extremely productive session with both cars, and completed its entire planned programme without any problems. Giancarlo Fisichella concentrated on a set-up programme during the day, in addition to completing tyre evaluation with Bridgestone. The Italian completed an impressive total of 131 laps to finish fifth fastest with a lap of 1:21.997.

Across the garage, Heikki Kovalainen also concentrated on set-up development, as well as conducting initial evaluations of new aerodynamic components ahead of the forthcoming Bahrain tests. The Finn was pleased with his day's work, finishing third fastest in a time of 1:21.819, after completing a total of 101 laps.

The programmes with both cars left the team both satisfied and encouraged at the end of the day. These data will be built upon during tomorrow's final day of testing at the Spanish circuit – indeed, this will be the final day of winter testing in Europe, prior to the last two hot weather tests ahead of the first race in Melbourne, in just over a month's time.

Giancarlo Fisichella: "We worked well today, completed lots of laps and didn't have any problems at all. In terms of performance, the times are clearly very close but we seem competitive. It was a good day for us, and I hope we can achieve the same tomorrow."

Heikki Kovalainen: "I managed to complete my programme today, and we achieved the team's objectives for the day. We did lots of laps, collected plenty of data, and the overall result looks positive. We will be aiming for the same again tomorrow on our final day in Barcelona."

Giancarlo Fisichella, R27-02, 131 laps, 601 km, best lap: 1:21.997
Heikki Kovalainen, R27-03, 101 laps, 464 km, best lap: 1:21.819