Toyota testing aerodynamic modifications

Panasonic Toyota Racing returned to action at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya as the team continued preparations for the first European race of the 2007 world championship. The TF107 has undergone considerable aerodynamic modifications in preparation for next week’s Spanish Grand Prix, including revised bodywork.

This morning was sunny at Barcelona and the lack of wind made conditions perfect for testing before clouds arrived during the afternoon. Ralf Schumacher was at the wheel for Toyota, looking at set-up options and differential settings. At the early races of 2007 Ralf has struggled with the new car’s front end so he spent the day pushing for a solution to make the car work better for him. The timing screens had him as fastest of all but that was due to skipping the chicane on the lap in question. In reality he was 4th, 0.788s from the top. The Toyota team will continue testing at the Circuit de Catalunya tomorrow with Jarno Trulli driving.

Ralf Schumacher – Chassis TF107/01
Best lap time: 1m 21.983s
Position: 4th
Total laps: 93
Total distance: 432.9km
“In general it was a successful day and we made it through everything that we had planned. I’ve had some problems with the front end at the last couple of races in low grip conditions but it seems to be better here. We made quite a few changes in the set-up and after that I was able to brake and turn in the way that I’m used to. So that helps me and we got along quite well with the car today. My fastest lap time came when I went through the chicane but we were still not far from the top so it has been a good test. Obviously we will have to wait and see how it is at the race itself next week, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager “We are spending the week focusing on next week’s Spanish Grand Prix and today was a good first day. Ralf has been complaining of understeer during the last two races and so we have been working on finding a better set-up for him. It was another difficult morning but we made progress during the day and he was much happier during the afternoon. We worked on the differential too and that also went well. Of course we are also running the new aerodynamic package that we have lined up for the next race. Jarno will be testing tomorrow so we will now change the car for him overnight. But so far it has been a positive day’s work.”